# Forum Home Renovation Stairs, Steps and Ramps  How is this type of staircase made

## Arron

Hi All. I'm in the very early stages of planning a small renovation project which will require a staircase to be replaced. 
My wife wants something like in the attached image.  
I know there are a lot of issues to deal with like bannisters and safety and the fact that I think we are just too price-constrained anyway, but I need to work it through. It would be DIY (the wooden bits, anyway).  
So my question is, how are the treads fixed to the wall ? 
I cant really imagine any way of fixing them that would give me full confidence in them. 
Anyone made one of these, or seen it done. 
cheers
Arron

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## paddyjoy

if you google image "cantilevered stairs construction" you will see some examples, I imagine there would be a piece of steel inside each timber thread.

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## woodbe

There's one of those on Grand Designs, and it's made out of glass, no steel! 
I don't think this is the actual staircase, but you get the idea:  Cantilevered Glass Stair 
And how about this:   
Don't trip!  :Biggrin:

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## gpkennedy

Get a new wife.

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## Arron

Are they even compliant in this country ?

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## joynz

The NCC requires a balustrade and a handrail (can be combined) if not bounded by a wall, and over a metre high.   
This could interfere with the look  - but you could do it in glass or wire to keep the 'open' look.

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## Marc

Yes the nanny state wouldn't allow no balustrade nor open threads with no risers. Poisonous food additives and medicine detrimental to your health and banned everywhere else is ok. So is allowing foreign companies to ignore private property, and pump aquifers dry for free whilst the farmer had to pay for each litre he uses. 
Having said that, a staircase designed like that is bound to give you some daily anxiety, particularly one made of glass. Do you have kids?  
All those staircase have an oversized stringer hidden inside the wall. Steel is always easier to use in this case but you can make one with a hardwood stringer if you really wanted to. In every case you will have to dismantle half the wall in question to build the stringer inside and then hide it. A lot of work, a lot of money if done by a stair specialist, and non compliant due to the nanny in action. 
However queen food colours are OK, and so is irradiated fruit and veggies, chinese food imported to NZ and passed on to OZ as NZ grown and so on and so forth .. did I mention fish ... ?  :2thumbsup:

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## PlatypusGardens

I would not feel comfortable on that glass one.... 
I'm sure each step is rated at 700kg but there's somthing about walking on glass that doesn't agree with me....   :No:

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## paddyjoy

Don't forget the fun police also have a rule that no gap can be bigger than 12.5cm which limits your balustrade design. We wouldn't want any premature babies escaping the womb and crawling through the gap.

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## PlatypusGardens

Speaking of gaps,   
The tread spacing looks quite different between these two...

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## Marc

Mm, probably not as much as it seems ... 17 steps against 10. The distance between floors must be very different.
Making stairs that way, I can guarantee you wouldn't want to make any extra steps than necessary.

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## PlatypusGardens

Hard to be sure from two different photos without any real reference points, but I still reckon the timber ones are way closer together.... 
And the glass ones seem steeper too.  
Meh.
Who knows.  
Looks like the house with the glass steps has another similar (timber ?) staircase at the other end too.   :Smilie:

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## OBBob

An apartment we stayed at had this with no balustrade... Very hard to get used to.

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## PlatypusGardens

> how are the treads fixed to the wall ?

  Very much, a lot and heaps    :Biggrin:

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## OBBob

> Very much, a lot and heaps

  Not Sikaflex then?  
They could be rated at 700kg and there'd still be that disconcerting flex. :eek:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Not Sikaflex then?

  
Came very close to spitting beer all over my iPad reading that     
Bob, me and......Metrix?    :Smilie:

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## Marc

A lot of staircases are an architect's statement but not designed with the user in mind. The buyer falls for them just like those houses with commercial kitchens in them as a statement but the owner rings in a pizza and does not cook. 
Send gramma up this stairs ... there isn't a handrail until you reach the third step.

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## PlatypusGardens

That's cool.    :Cool:

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## Marc

If you really want a "lookatme lookatme" staircase, you can import the guts of it from here Prefabricated Cantilevered Stairs Are "The Maximum In Minimalism" : TreeHugger and make the steps locally. 
Check this out, the comments under it are real funny. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/hot-or-not-176-50291

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## PlatypusGardens

> Check this out, the comments under it are real funny. Hot or Not?: Stairs by Jordivayreda Projectteam | Apartment Therapy

  
Hilarious  :Rofl:  
best one:  Nightrain 7 years ago
Good God, you're all so uptight. Waaa waa waa, code, safety, blah blah. It's not your house, so lighten up.    
It's all about what we tell ourselves...  
We can all walk up a stone staircase in front of a big building without handrails.
I bet half of the people posting in that blog run down their own stairs without holding on to the rails.  
People freak out when they see exposed electrical wires and say "is that safe?"
Little do they know that the wiring harness in a car is just wires bundled together.
And that there are wires running all through the walls of their house, right next to eachother.
But because they can see them they all of a sudden they think it's unsafe.  
I can walk perfectly fine on a 200mm wide sleeper on the ground.
Would I do it 3M up in the air?
Probably not. 
Would I feel comfortable on the floating glass staircase?
Probably not.
(Even though I'd know that they're more than strong enough)  
Humans.
We're so weird.

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## Marc

More "lookatme" staircases. some would be a lot of fun to build but would need an owner with a fat wallet. Particularly number 23 ... the head spins. 25 Unusual and Creative Staircase Designs

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## PlatypusGardens

> More "lookatme" staircases. some would be a lot of fun to build but would need an owner with a fat wallet. Particularly number 23 ... the head spins. 25 Unusual and Creative Staircase Designs

  
Wow.
Love them all.     
I like lots of things for the design and engineering aspect of them, even if I wouldn't wanna own them myself.   :Smilie:

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## OBBob

> Wow.
> Love them all.     
> I like lots of things for the design and engineering aspect of them, even if I wouldn't wanna own them myself.

  How 'bout this site (hopefully doesn't get blocked because of the name). I've spent way too long drooling over these creations in the past.   http://www.stairporn.org

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## woodbe

I'm liking this one, might mod our existing stair (with balustrade) to suit. The space under there is just wasted, and is usually just a junkpile!

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## Marc

That is a reasonable project for DIY

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## METRIX



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## PlatypusGardens

Those alternating tread ones, like in the last pic, don't strike me as being very practical....

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## PlatypusGardens

I kinda wish we had stairs in our house now, after looking at all these pics...

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## phild01

> I kinda wish we had stairs in our house now, after looking at all these pics...

  ...so, begs the question, fireman's pole!??

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## METRIX

> ...so, begs the question, fireman's pole!??

  That's getting a bit personal Phil  :Tongue:

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## PlatypusGardens

> ...so, begs the question, fireman's pole!??

  
Batpole

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## phild01

> That's getting a bit personal Phil

   :Smilie: 
 Still wondering how they do it?  _  
...edit: that is, getting upstairs._

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## METRIX

I have to build a set in this place, want to do something different, need to rise 3m, there is currently a huge spiral staircase, but is has to go, any ideas.

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## woodbe

Bespoke Glass Staircases : Concept Stairs 
They might be the maker of the glass stairs seen on Grand Designs...

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## PlatypusGardens

> Still wondering how they do it?  _  
> ...edit: that is, getting upstairs._

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## phild01

> 

  Think you are getting ideas now, PG....can see the cogs turning in your head :Biggrin:

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## woodbe

Found it. Zoom to 32:32 to see the steel frame for the glass staircase:  Grand Designs S09E12 The Loch House - Killearn (revisited) - Video Dailymotion

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## PlatypusGardens

> Think you are getting ideas now, PG....can see the cogs turning in your head

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## boyracer

This is a friends business in Adelaide. The carbon treads look way cool IRL. Universal Composite Engineering - Architectural

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## phild01

> 

  unreal, but want to see you make it now :Biggrin:

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## paddyjoy

Hard to tell from the picture but looks like you don't have a lot of space in that area, probably why they put in a spiral in the first place? 
Can you knock out those doors and the floor above and use that area?

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## PlatypusGardens

> unreal, but want to see you make it now

  
It's mesmerizing isn't it. 
It would work.....if well lubricated and somehow self propelled (magnets?) and suspended in zero gravity...    :Smilie:

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## Marc

> I have to build a set in this place, want to do something different, need to rise 3m, there is currently a huge spiral staircase, but is has to go, any ideas.

  A lot of variables ... what is the budged probably the main one. It seems you have a lot of space. I always wanted to build a staircase made of a series of very large round steps with a hole off centre that wanders in a spiral making room for a person to walk through using what is really a platform as step. I see if I can find a picture of it. I've got it in my old Staircases book. Seems cool and not hard to build.

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## Marc

Ok found it ... it is by stair builder Tom Luckey
Check page 66 ... yes I know very odd but the stairs are grand. https://books.google.com.au/books?id...luckey&f=false

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## PlatypusGardens

> Ok found it ... it is by stair builder Tom Luckey
> Check page 66 ... yes I know very odd but the stairs are grand.

  These ones?
Pretty cool   :Cool:

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## Marc

I couldn't copy the URL for the picture alone, did not give me the choice. 
That one is massive but it can be scaled down and simplified. I like the concept of each step being part of the tower structure. 
That size could be made into a double staircase where two people can go up entering from opposite sides of the thread.

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## PlatypusGardens

> I couldn't copy the URL for the picture alone, did not give me the choice. 
> That one is massive but it can be scaled down and simplified. I like the concept of each step being part of the tower structure. 
> That size could be made into a double staircase where two people can go up entering from opposite sides of the thread.

  
I know, I screencapped it.  :Wink:   
And yes, it's a very interesting and unusual design.    :Smilie:

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## Marc

Yes, Tom Luckey had a colourful life dedicated to children playgrounds and ... stairs.

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## METRIX

> Yes, Tom Luckey had a colourful life dedicated to children playgrounds and ... stairs.

  Marc, is that dedicated to Children, Playgrounds and Stairs, or Dedicated to Children's playgrounds, and stairs ?. 
As the above typo could have very different meanings.

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