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A Guide to Designing a Spiral Staircase

Any multi-level home or building can benefit from the striking addition of a spiral staircase. Even though building a spiral staircase is a little more difficult than building a standard staircase, it is still achievable with the correct tools and planning. An exact architectural plan that specifies the dimensions of the staircase, as well as the size, style, and location of each step, must be created before you commence. Once the plan is in place, you can start gathering and putting together your chosen materials in conjunction with your plan in order to ensure the finished staircase is aesthetically pleasing, useful, and structurally sound.

In this article, we have compiled a short guide to help you design a spiral staircase and learn how to calculate your treads. So, read the full article to understand the basics of a spiral staircase.

Calculating Treads And Designing A Spiral Staircase

  1. First, identify the location where your top and bottom steps will go. To ensure sufficient head clearance, a spiral stairwell needs to spin 360 degrees between stories. Thus, you need to pay particular attention to details while designing the entry and exit of the spiral stairwell.
  2. Take an accurate measurement of the height difference between the first and second floors.
  3. Divide the distance between levels by the required rise for each step. With a 7-inch increase for each step, 15.43 steps are required to reach a total elevation of 108 inches. Although it is not feasible to build a fraction of a step, this method makes it simple to obtain a general sense of how to get near the riser height you desire. When you are close to the solution, to obtain the precise solution, divide the height by the number of steps. In this case, 108 inches divided by 15 steps results in an individual riser height of 7.2 inches.
  4. Next, the width of the stairway space should be measured. With an increase in overall width, your treads’ potential width and depth will increase accordingly.
  5. To calculate the circumference of the staircase, multiply the available width by pi, or 3.14. According to this, a staircase that is 72 inches wide would have a 226.08-inch circumference.
  6. To calculate the width of the treads at the outer border of the staircase, divide the circumference by the number of treads. In this case, multiplying the circumference of 226.08 by 15 results in 15.07-inch outer width measurement. Each tread has a zero internal dimension in principle. Depending on the size and form of the attachment point to the central support, the actual measurement is established.

Conclusion

Designing a spiral staircase is not an easy task. You can limit the do-it-yourself project to creating an architectural plan of the staircase, but executing the whole thing without professional help is not recommended. For the best outcome, contact the experts for spiral staircase design in Melbourne: Active Metal. A spiral staircase built by professionals will not only act as an architectural fitting but also add to your building’s aesthetic value.

Posted by Miriam Innes