# Forum Home Renovation Stairs, Steps and Ramps  concrete stairs internal on fill split level

## barney118

What requirement is there besides obvious re height/ run for making internal stairs on a split level house out of concrete, is it as simple as cut slope of stairs in ground plastic under box up and concrete, or do you have to excavate a box section out of the ground lay flat concrete with plastic then build the sides up and waterproof just like retaining wall?

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## METRIX

Here's some my concretor mate prepared earlier, nice result for floating  exposed both sides !, Very talented guy,

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## Uncle Bob

Nice job. It would've been great to see a time elapse video, especially of the pour.
What's with the pipes in the floor? Don't tell me this is for heating in Sydney?  :Rolleyes:

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## barney118

nice, so imagine this ontop of ground just 1 flight say 1.5 high, would you need piers down to support or box up the sides as well, plastic under to prevent moisture, the bottom would be a footing to take the load? or would the stairs be supported from top level to bottom by the steel reo?

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## METRIX

> Nice job. It would've been great to see a time elapse video, especially of the pour.
> What's with the pipes in the floor? Don't tell me this is for heating in Sydney?

  Yes it is floor heting, but No it's in Vic, and Hey it' does get cold here in the winter, I have had to get out a blanket or two at times  :Biggrin:

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## Uncle Bob

> Yes it is floor heting, but No it's in Vic, and Hey it' does get cold here in the winter, I have had to get out a blanket or two at times

  That's ok then  :Wink:  
Hey Metrix, do you wear Stubbies on the cooler days too?  :Biggrin:

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## METRIX

> nice, so imagine this ontop of ground just 1 flight say 1.5 high, would you need piers down to support or box up the sides as well, plastic under to prevent moisture, the bottom would be a footing to take the load? or would the stairs be supported from top level to bottom by the steel reo?

  Depends on how you want them constructed, all the options you suggested can be done, If you want them suspended (which is fairly easy) then you will need have something to support the sides, if they are freestanding then two brick walls could do this, of if they are between two walls then this can act as the support with appropriate rods inserted in the walls to hold them up. 
Below is one we did which the top flight are suspended with rods through the existing walls tied into the steel inside the treads, but the curved bottom part is solid and on the ground, and yes I said solid, the Engineer designed them like that, and there was a LOT of concrete in them but that's what they wanted. 
There should be no need to plastic underneath, unless they are touching earth, if they are internal then no need, Yes you will need some sort of footing under them to take the load, and you can also make them free of supporting sides such as the ones posted above, but these can be tricky to build and you would need to know how to do it to make it safe. 
We always have Engineers specs for any concrete stairs to construct to ensure they are done right, especially suspended type.

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## barney118

Hi metrix I have excavated the area for my garage which will have a rear retaining wall of 900 min of backfill and thinking of cutting/shaping beyond this to make stairs rather than use up floor space in garage, but it sounds too much work for minimal gain. Eventually behind the garage is an area 5 m back by 3m wide which will become part of the pool area as it is adjacent to the pool. But this slope is another 1.7 m down to level with pool height higher from the top of the 900 retaining wall, I think the engineering for the footing of the retaining wall would become huge if I increased the wall to even 2.4 high.  
Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

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## METRIX

> That's ok then  
> Hey Metrix, do you wear Stubbies on the cooler days too?

  Now Uncle Bob, Stubbies went out of fashion with the horse and cart 
Either King Gee, Ripcurl, Billabong, Quiksilver are what's worn now, and yes we do still wear them on cooler days, as you heat up quickl when working.

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## METRIX

> Hi metrix I have excavated the area for my garage which will have a rear retaining wall of 900 min of backfill and thinking of cutting/shaping beyond this to make stairs rather than use up floor space in garage, but it sounds too much work for minimal gain. Eventually behind the garage is an area 5 m back by 3m wide which will become part of the pool area as it is adjacent to the pool. But this slope is another 1.7 m down to level with pool height higher from the top of the 900 retaining wall, I think the engineering for the footing of the retaining wall would become huge if I increased the wall to even 2.4 high.  
> Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

  May not become too huge, below is one we poured today, the retaining wall requirement is 3 brick wide, footings are 400D x 600W with L12TM300, for our application the wall is up to 1.4 high, there is 7000 bricks just for the retaining wall. 
This will have a new raft slab and 3 car garage on it soon all from brick, will post a pic of the finished retaininig wall soon, the brickies said they will smash it out in a few days :2thumbsup: , wall is around 11m long, 6m back, and returns 2m.

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## barney118

Here's my little job, I have a couple of samples ICF I may choose to use. The excavation took a couple of chunks which you can see a slope I now think about stairs.
As you can see putting a 25ft van raises its challenges on getting the grading right before you pour.

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