Stairs, Cupolas, Doors

[rburke65]

Hi guys! I am going to contract out a new shop, and will be breaking ground on May1st and I'd like to get some opinions on a question or 3.
First up is a question on a 'swing in' man door verses a 'swing out' man door. I thought it might be a little harder to kick in a swing out door. And yes it will have a large porch overhead to shield against the weather.
Second, is the size of a cupola. The building will be 32x56x13 with an 8/12 roof. Will a 24"x24" cupola look like a pea on an elephants back? Two would probably be better but they are not cheap. I will have a vented ridge vent, and this would be just for looks.
Third, I will have an attic with a full stairway and I was wondering what is the standard pitch or angle on a stairway.
Thanks for all your input and thoughts.

 

[99SVT]

our shop is 40x60, and the cupola is 4ft sq.

 

[99SVT]

oh, and the man door swings out, as I did not want it interfering with anything on the inside

 

[blkhonda1991]

at 24X24 that cupola is gonna be a dot...better to leave it off since its just not to scale with the rest of the building

 

[shopnut]

oh, and the man door swings out, as I did not want it interfering with anything on the inside

+1

I've always considered out-swinging doors to be more secure because it's much harder, if not impossible, to kick it inward for forced entry.

 

[kbs2244]

The man door in or out is a never to be won argument.
Both side have good points.

I my mind it comes down to security concerns.
Opening out exposes the hinges.
And I do not care how fancy a “security” hinge you get, in these days of battery powered tools,
If they can get to it they can cut it up in no time.

Opening in prevents that problem, but it does take up inside room.
On a building your size, I wouldn’t expect the opening in swing space to be a problem.
But, again, it comes down to personal taste.

Black, or cream, or sugar, or both?
Blonds or brunettes?
Chocolate or vanilla?
Ford or Chevy?

And have the company you are buying from show you some sketches of your size building with to scale copulas. You have to look at it to get the sense of scale.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I read a rule of thumb somewhere for sizing cupolas - figure one inch for each foot of building length, so for a 56 foot long building the cupola would be 56 inches wide.

 

[darkk]

Third, I will have an attic with a full stairway and I was wondering what is the standard pitch or angle on a stairway.
Thanks for all your input and thoughts.

There really isn't a standard per se...there are however code spec requirements they need to fall within in most counties. Here is a link to one of many stair calculators on the internet.
http://www.mycarpentry.com/stair-calculator.html#ManualStairCalc

Oh, the door thing, in my area code for the door swings out for commercial and in for residential.

 

[ddawg16]

Door....in...out.....if they want in bad enough...they will get in..

Stairs....typical is 7.5" rise with a 12" tread. If you plan to carry heavy objects up and down the stairs, don't go smaller than 11" tread or greater than 8" on the riser. Just plan on the space under the stairs being storage....maybe your compressor?

 

[ddawg16]

Oh, the door thing, in my area code for the door swings out for commercial and in for residential.

I think this is so that it's easier to escape a comercial building and easier for fire to kick in a door at your home....

In my area....your home can be either way....

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Third, I will have an attic with a full stairway and I was wondering what is the standard pitch or angle on a stairway.

Generally, about 33-37degrees depending on final calculation of rise and run for your particular application.

 

[spaulman]

I'm in the process of building a 32x48 barn. I went with a 36" cupola and should have gone with 48". The 36" looks ok but the 48" would have looked better.

 

[bams50]

What is the purpose of a cupola anyway?

 

[Stuart in MN]

What is the purpose of a cupola anyway?

For ventilation, for additional light, or to simply look cool.

 

[rburke65]

Thanks everyone for all the input. Very informative and appreciated.

 

[RVDan]

Emergency exits around here need to open outwards, but it's also got a bunch of factors like the buildings occupancy ratings and the building intended use.

For residential private application, do whatever you like.

All my house doors open inwards so I can leave them open and not have the wind grab them and it's easier to get in with an armload of groceries.

My workshop which is currently under construction is getting an inward opening door on the bottom floor to avoid the outward opening door issues of the previously mentioned wind slamming it shut, and having to keep the wall clear on the hinge side to be able to open it all the way.

I have a second floor door but it's actually four stairs down from the second floor, so it's going to open outwards so the landing can be outside rather than eating up inside space.

I'm confused about the floor space argument for inward opening doors. If you clutter that space, you couldn't walk in anyway.

 

[Herb]

Machine gun nest.

 

[Herb]

What is the purpose of a cupola anyway?

Machine gun nest.