I was looking online at spiral staircases and found this.... $20 bucks for the plans to build your own staircase. If you are crafty, you could save yourself a ton of money it seems. Spiral staircases seem to be kind of expensive.
http://www.jself.com/stair/Stair.htm
I was looking for a copy of Ken Kern's USDA designed spiral stairs to post with TJM's link and found this --I like it -
http://www.logstairs.com/spiral.htm
(http://www.logstairs.com/images/spiral_stairs/classic_410h.jpg)
(http://www.logstairs.com/images/spiral_stairs/classic2_larger.jpg)(http://www.logstairs.com/images/spiral_stairs/rustic_larger.jpg)(http://www.logstairs.com/images/spiral_stairs/s_series/S96cyclone-s.jpg)
Also found this....
http://www.arkestairs.com/index.php
QuoteI was looking for a copy of Ken Kern's USDA designed spiral stairs to post with TJM's link and found this --I like it -
http://www.logstairs.com/spiral.htm
(http://www.logstairs.com/images/spiral_stairs/classic_410h.jpg)
THAT is cool!! 8-)
How would you get furniture up and down a spiral staircase? It sure would be nice to have one for the space savings.
Jared
That would be one of the problems if it was the only way up. Possibly disassemble - over the loft railing if available- through a window - trap door and ropes - use built-ins. Other options? How about a walk out porch on the second floor and a friend with a forklift?
I would only use a spiral staircase in a home with an open area that looked out/down on some part of the house. As often as you may move large items upstairs a simple pulley system, sling of some type and a helper or two would suffice.
If you could build your own spiral staircase, you should have the ability to build your own furniture in the upstairs area. Getting it out might be a problem!
Furniture and full scale access to rooms and people above is one of the reasons spiral stairs are often limited in the floor area they can serve. My codes say any upper floor area over 400 sf needs to have a full code stair and not the type of spiral shown in the earlier diagrams. Think a "Gone with the Wind" spiral staircase. That can work! :D
Don't know what the materials would cost, but the cheapest prebuilt 5 foot oak stairs I found are through Goddard (www.spiral-staircases.com) Under $2,000! Way low compared to the others.
I built the USDA one from Ken Kerns book for about $30 with wood I got from a buddy with a sawmill at 1/2 price - not fancy but will look nice when sanded out and varnished later. I could have cut my own lumber for a little less.