Spiral Stairs... Anyone Build A Set

[Renegade1LI]

Just curious if anyone has built a set of spiral stairs? I have a limited amount of space from basement to 1st floor to add stairs inside the house. We just bought the house & originally it only had an outside bilco door entrance to the basement, the previous owner added a horrible set of stairs from the kitchen which has to go. I was originally thinking a small elevator, but the spiral stair might be quicker & cheaper, both take up roughly the same space. I looked at buying treads, wtf? prices way too high, so it looks like it will be shop built, thinking either wood or steel angle frame with wood inserts. If it works out well I would like to build another set for access to a loft in a garage. Iv'e done a bit of searching the webs but it's always nice to hear from someone that has actually built them, thanks for any ideas!

 

[PoorUB]

Keep in mind in some areas a spiral stairs may not meet code unless there is a second means of egress.

 

[250]

Here's one way to do it.

 

[readhead]

I had a steel fabrication shop and I would not do it. Way more complicated than you think.
I would buy the kits from the Iron Shop.

 

[Bucko]

If its something you will be using regularly they ****, especially if you are carrying something. Is the basement conditioned space with the rest if the house? Otherwise you would still need a door to create a barrier.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I just built a steel spiral staircase from scratch early this year.
It connects the shop floor to my Evil Genius Lair 11’4” above with 1-1/4 turns.
It required a lot of trial and error, two solid weeks, 800 lbs of grating, and every ladder I own.
Do not even consider a diameter less than 48”( I only had 44” available), and be prepared to cut it all down and rebuild it differently if the first climb draws blood.
Carrying anything up or down is a pain. A family friend is a state Trooper who had to extract a stiffened corpse down from a room with no other access than a tight spiral stair.

 

[Renegade1LI]

All good advice, not worried about code, more about function. It's really not a full height basement it's only 5'-6" & we only plan to use it as storage like an attic, although right now the washer & dryer are down there. Why they made it 5'-6 I'll never know but there are full size bilco doors to the exterior. The space is heated but will still have a door to the stairs, my plan at the moment since this house is in the Adirondacks is to get some timber milled for the treads, maybe even with a live edge, there's a few local mills that will cut anything you want for a fair price. The challenge of building them is the fun part, as long as the spacing & sizes are correct the rest should fall into place.

 

[billconner]

I will add one of the coolest ones was in Fine Homebuilding years ago. Each step was concrete. Cast in a mold with a pipe sleeve and some rebar. After all were cast and set, they just slid them onto a vertical pipe. iirc the lifting, aligning, and lowering was the hardest part.

Just another scheme.

 

[Uncle murph]

Just curious if anyone has built a set of spiral stairs? I have a limited amount of space from basement to 1st floor to add stairs inside the house. We just bought the house & originally it only had an outside bilco door entrance to the basement, the previous owner added a horrible set of stairs from the kitchen which has to go. I was originally thinking a small elevator, but the spiral stair might be quicker & cheaper, both take up roughly the same space. I looked at buying treads, wtf? prices way too high, so it looks like it will be shop built, thinking either wood or steel angle frame with wood inserts. If it works out well I would like to build another set for access to a loft in a garage. Iv'e done a bit of searching the webs but it's always nice to hear from someone that has actually built them, thanks for any ideas!

You might consider winders as well,I’ve built several sets over the years and they definitely offer the best compromise between traditional stairs and a spiral with the added benefit of being able to build them yourself.5/4 yellow pine is very reasonable in price and very friendly to work with.

 

[Kaizen]

even a crappy straight stair is 100 times better then spiral. I'd give up room and do a decent straight one with 2x treads. Is the foundation a lot deeper where you could eventually increase head room? can't imagine trying to carry decoration box on a spiral

 

[firebirdparts]

Always wanted a cast iron set. Picturesque. To look at. Not so good to walk on.

 

[Walkers]

I build a set every few years for clients. No way I would ever build one for myself.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Kay just scratch built a spiral staircase...

Tommy

 

[eejack]

How about alternating tread stairs. The Nabisco bakery I worked at had them throughout the catwalks and they were very efficient and relatively easy to use ( once you got past the whole it feels wrong part )

As an example...https://www.lapeyrestair.com/products/alternating-tread-stairs

 

[LS6 Tommy]

How about alternating tread stairs. The Nabisco bakery I worked at had them throughout the catwalks and they were very efficient and relatively easy to use ( once you got past the whole it feels wrong part )

As an example...https://www.lapeyrestair.com/products/alternating-tread-stairs

I remember those stairs form the few times I worked there. It's a shame they shuttered that location.

 

[Toolfool]

Installed a kit once in a tiny house to access the storage loft. Negotiating the stairs sucked.

 

[billconner]

Harder to carry things on alternating tread devices than on spiral stairs in my experience, which is over 50 years with crawling around stages and theatres.

 

[The Cobbler]

spiral stairs **** in my opinion, especially if you already have a difficult basement. I can't imagine hauling baskets of laundry up & down spirals . sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
are you really sure you're saving space with such low headroom?
spiral stair calculator https://www.blocklayer.com/stairs/spiral-stairseng.aspx
straight stair calculator https://www.blocklayer.com/stairs/stairseng.aspx

 

[MooreGarage]

We have these in our walk-out basement. They are the originals from when the house was built over 50 years ago, so I have no idea who made them, but they work great. I've been carrying stuff up and down them with no issues for the 20+ years we've owned the house. For large items of furniture, we obviously don't use these stairs, we carry them around the house to one of the basement exterior doors.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I have been looking at the alternating tread designs, not sure without trying them, we have a set of spirals in our office, never really thought about them, just go up or down. MooreGarage, those look fine, I can't see why carrying a laundry basket would be so difficult. Wether it would be 10 treads or 15 really shouldn't matter & if I go with straight stairs I still have to duck when I go into the basement. I wouldn't mind lowering the floor but I have a feeling they went down till they hit rock & stopped. Either way the basement *****, even going through the bilco doors I still have to duck at the bottom. These are what I am thinking of building, I think they could work.

Building a Spiral Stair - GreenBuildingAdvisor

Step-by-step instructions for building a spiral staircase to save space and a look at some of the more challenging aspects.

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com

 

[Beemer]

In the few times I've encountered them I disliked them and wouldn't consider them anything but dangerous, certainly not useful.
In my former life I designed building structures and it took a lot to rattle me in that regard.

 

[Voi]

I have been looking at the alternating tread designs, not sure without trying them, we have a set of spirals in our office, never really thought about them, just go up or down. MooreGarage, those look fine, I can't see why carrying a laundry basket would be so difficult. Wether it would be 10 treads or 15 really shouldn't matter & if I go with straight stairs I still have to duck when I go into the basement. I wouldn't mind lowering the floor but I have a feeling they went down till they hit rock & stopped. Either way the basement *****, even going through the bilco doors I still have to duck at the bottom. These are what I am thinking of building, I think they could work.

Building a Spiral Stair - GreenBuildingAdvisor

Step-by-step instructions for building a spiral staircase to save space and a look at some of the more challenging aspects.

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com

I built a mock up alternating stairs at our cabin before deciding to go with them. Just some left over 2x6 from construction.

Liked them well enough so I later scored some free redwood 2x12 and threw together a set.

I actually built a few different versions. Long story short I found that a rise/run of 9" over 9" was as steep as I was willing to go with the alternating tread design.

I'm surprised I haven't rebuilt these yet but just haven't found the right material. We have a lot of Glulams in the cabin so if I find any leftover Glulams that's probably what I'll use.

Blurry picture below. My phone case was very dirty that day. One of my versions was a triple stringer type which is easier to build. But since our storage loft is to the right when going up the second run we often stop partway up and grab stuff out of that loft and it's easier to stand on the full treads. And easier to turn around with out the center stringer.



So the full depth side of each tread is 9". The other part of each tread is 4.5". And yes, the alternating tread pattern is cut into our maple butch block counter. That was tough to do but really helped with our space. I also got it for $10 so not a lot invested.

 

[Toolfool]

I have been looking at the alternating tread designs, not sure without trying them, we have a set of spirals in our office, never really thought about them, just go up or down. MooreGarage, those look fine, I can't see why carrying a laundry basket would be so difficult. Wether it would be 10 treads or 15 really shouldn't matter & if I go with straight stairs I still have to duck when I go into the basement. I wouldn't mind lowering the floor but I have a feeling they went down till they hit rock & stopped. Either way the basement *****, even going through the bilco doors I still have to duck at the bottom. These are what I am thinking of building, I think they could work.

Building a Spiral Stair - GreenBuildingAdvisor

Step-by-step instructions for building a spiral staircase to save space and a look at some of the more challenging aspects.

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com

Long Island is a sand bar. I built probably 30-40 decks around the island, digging multiple 4'+ deep holes. The largest rock I ever encountered was maybe the size of a basketball.

 

[yeldogt]

I bought two sets (metal) for different projects many years ago from the Iron company in Broomall PA -- one was a stock and the other was a stock that needed some modification. They are still around ..... most wood stair companies can make them as well. Everything is CNC today -- so it's actually easier and cheaper to get some things out of wood today vs what was possible not long ago.

Making stairs is tricky .. any stairs. I'm always working with code -- so I stay away. My current project has a ships ladder to a loft ....

I think I just read something about the alternate ... they may not be code anymore

 

[Renegade1LI]

Long Island is a sand bar. I built probably 30-40 decks around the island, digging multiple 4'+ deep holes. The largest rock I ever encountered was maybe the size of a basketball.

Sorry, these are for a house we have on great sacandaga lake in the adirondacks , lots of rocks. Agree, Long Island on the south shore is pretty Sandy.

 

[fitter30]

Purchased a kit from the iron shop with oak threads. 60" x11' 2" . Was happy with the kit and the ease of the assembly. Then do take a while to get use to them especially going down..

 

[ericlar80]

There was a "How it's Made" episode on this one time, and it has a pretty good overview:

 

[Just A Beginner1]

I worked for a A-Frame "summer home on the lake" company many years ago.
The two halves of the "A-Frame" were hauled to the prepared site and installed over either
a basement foundation or a crawl space. All came with a spiral staircase.

One of my associate welders "Willie" built the spiral staircases. He had a very accurate fixture
and then built each staircase on the horizontal. It was later installed vertically. A fixture is mandatory.

Extremely easy to screw the build up even after having the stair pieces built precisely.
A slight mistake and you are 2" off on the upper floor height vs the top step.

But if you like pain and trying to do things go for it. Most homes today are outlawed in having them
installed.

Tom V.