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Spiral stairs are almost as old as architecture itself. Medieval castle builders wound them up into turrets, always twining them clockwise so ascending, right-handed attackers would be at a disadvantage against defenders. First laid atop masonry vaults, by the 13th century the stairs were made of stone slabs mounted to the wall. Spiral stairs rose toward heaven next to church lofts and pulpits, and descended into the horror of dungeons and the pleasures of wine cellars. With the advent of cast-iron spirals in the mid-19th century they no longer depended on circular walls for support and became free-standing and decorative. They were primarily used outdoors or in commercial applications, providing access to skywalks in factories or storage areas in warehouses. Their quintessential setting was in lighthouses. Spiral stairs are somewhat limited in use. National and local building codes have a lot to say about how big they need to be and almost every detail of their construction. You can't use a small spiral stair as the sole access to a full second storey, nor would you want to. You'd find it impossible to haul up king-sized mattresses and oak wardrobes; emergency workers couldn t carry stretchers down. Don t even think about using them as your one and only entry to a basement, where you might occasionally need a new furnace or water heater, or need to tote big baskets of laundry. Nevertheless, their archetypal corkscrew curves are the ultimate in romance. On a practical level they re great space savers with outdoor applications as fire escapes or ascents to widow s walks, and indoors for climbing to lofts and libraries. Initial Considerations You can have your spiral custom built, choose from stock stairs that arrive fully assembled, or buy a kit to erect yourself. (In fact, kit stairs are sometimes compared to Erector sets.) If you're confident in your carpentry, you can go online to buy detailed plans for hammering together a spiral in your workshop. Already-assembled stairs are tempting, billed as installable in 10 minutes. Yet they're most practical for new construction: It's hard to picture a 5' diameter spiral stair just slipping in the front door of most old houses, and they re expensive to ship in one piece. Kit sellers indicate an installation time of anywhere from four hours to a day, and skill levels from anyone can do it with common tools to considerable experience. It's definitely not a one-person job. If your stair will go through the floor above, the project becomes more complicated because you'll need a well opening. This is professional-level work, which means a higher price tag. You typically erect the kit stairs with tubular sleeves to which treads are attached, stacking them on a center pole. Many suppliers offer a continuous design that makes the sleeves look like a solid pole with no gaps between them. Sellers of stairs with solid center poles claim that the sleeve structures result in considerable flexing of the stair treads. Check Your Building Code The most common specifications result in spirals of the following dimensions:
Suppliers make every effort to create stock stairs that will meet or exceed all of these national codes, but there are often state or even local codes that may supercede them. Codes are tied to the area being accessed; they may be less stringent when stairs lead to an open space such as a loft or cupola, and the square footage of the area may also make a difference. Some companies offer stairs that they warn will not meet code for sole access to a second storey, but can be used for auxiliary stairs. Ordering Your Stairs Other suppliers will dazzle you with materials and trim and dozens of styles in everything from finials to treads. How about a decorative bracket on that stringer, or cove moulding for the riser? Some architectural guides define spiral stairs as those with a center pole, or newel, to which the narrow end of the roughly pie-wedge shaped treads attach. However, you can also buy helix designs with no center post and handrails on both sides rather than just one. Materials for stairs include metals such as forged iron, cast iron, aluminum, and steel. Pine, oak, cherry, and mahogany are among the popular woods for spiral stairs, with prices climbing respectively. For outdoor use aluminum is rustproof, but it can have a tinny feel and sound. Galvanized steel is another option. Iron stairs should be rust-proofed with baked enamel. Metal stairs can be lovely inside; suppliers say that weight is almost never an issue, even with iron. Outside, if wood strikes your fancy, you can get spirals in weather-resistant woods such as redwood, cedar, and teak. A typical code-compliant stair will turn about 30 degrees per tread so that it takes a lucky 13 stairs to turn a full 360 degrees. Some stair designs have a looser spiral of 180 degrees or even 90 degrees, which really falls into rubric of curved stair. Planning a spiral stair to access an open loft or balcony is relatively easy, but it s a good idea to mark the planned diameter on the floor with masking tape to get a sense of how much space it will take up and of course, where the openings will fall. The well opening required for stairs ascending to a closed space can be either square or round. Manufacturers usually sell landings and railings for either, as well as matching balcony railings should you need them. Simple to Fancy Handrails are available in everything from polyethylene to aluminum to elegant brass and woods with volutes and scrolls. Balusters are probably the commonest way to vary your stair design. In an Arts & Crafts house you might want to go with simple square balusters. A few turnings in the baluster would complement a Colonial Revival, or you could tart up a Queen Anne with double fleur-de-lis, scrolls, baskets, or brass center collars. The spiral’s sophisticated geometry keeps it from being a project that most of us could turn out on our own, but kits, preassembled designs, and the plethora of options available make it relatively easy and affordable to wind up giving spiral stairs a whirl.
PIEDMONT SPIRAL STAIRS wood spiral stairs (800) 622-3399 www.piedmontstairs.com SALTER INDUSTRIES metal and wood stair kits (800) 368-8280 www.salterspiralstair.com STAIR WORLD, INC. wood stair parts (800) 387-7711 www.stairworld.com STEPTOE & WIFE cast-iron stairs re-created from Victorian designs (800) 461-0060 www.steptoewife.com UNIQUE SPIRAL STAIRS helix-style assembled wood stairs (800) 924-2985 www.uniquespiralstairs.com |
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