Stairway Tips

Are you going to include a landing? Does it need to be functional? Some types of stairways use a landing as a site for support, so you may have a mandatory landing. You may also decide on a landing for aesthetic reasons. Give careful consideration to whether the landing is large enough to suit it’s purpose.

Is your landing the site of a turn in the stairway? Even if you want a landing for strictly aesthetic reasons, think about the turn angle. Is it comfortable? Imagine going up and down those stairs 20 or 30 times. Can you carry a large box up and down comfortably? Now imagine moving a sofa!

Also think about the placement of light fixtures and electrical outlets in relation to your landing. If you have a light fixture above the staircase, a landing may be a good idea, if for no other reason, than to give you a safe place to change the bulbs and clean the fixture. It may be easy to camouflage a much-needed electrical outlet for the vacuum cleaner in a landing.

Do you have enough (or too much) headroom? Make sure that the floor above is not going to incapacitate your visitors. They might not know to duck when they get to the top 2 stairs, or hunch down when they start to walk down. If your attic entrance is 20 feet above the stairs, how are you going to get in?