Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Oct 12, 2013 12:33 pm OK, we have found a design flaw in the custom home we are building. It appears that the front door is going to open up and hit onto the bottom step of the staircase. Our builder has suggested taking out the bottom step and changing the gap between each step to 190mm as opposed to the 180mm originally planned. As a women, my thought is 1cm / 10mm no big deal, but my father in-law seems to think this will be a major issue. Our builder has informed us that 190mm is still (only just) within standards. My father in-law has gracefully pointed out that I am not getting any younger and climbing the stairs as I get older may become a major issue. I kind of think the house is a 5 bedroom with our bedroom downstairs, chances are I am not going to live there forever and anyone else that buys it will be a family with children and therefore younger. Thoughts / opinions is a 190mm gap too much? Is it likely to cause issues? Re: A few questions about our staircase 2Oct 12, 2013 5:24 pm Yes 190mm is the maximum but you also need to take into account how steep the staircase will be as it will be steeper than originally planned. Ensure this still complies before you agree. Check out this to check. It gives you the min and max figures for how steep it can be. http://www.arden.net.au/resources/Artic ... e-and.aspx If it complies then I guess it's up to you if you are comfortable with it. An older site had the 2008 figures as maximum of 180mm. Re: A few questions about our staircase 3Oct 13, 2013 8:47 am Good link travelbug. My take on stair tread width and riser height is that it depends on how comfortable YOU are climbing and descending them not what the regs state or otherwise. 190mm risers do make it steeper but not overly so. I have more of an issue with the minimum tread width ( 240mm ) which is waaay too short in my opinion. My runners are exactly 300mm long and when descending stairs with the minimum width 240mm treads my feet obviously overhang and tend to roll over the nosing - not ideal. Take a tape measure with you and visit friends who have stairs and see what theirs feel like to walk up and down. Take note of their tread and riser measurements. Stewie Re: A few questions about our staircase 4Oct 13, 2013 9:24 am Thank you so much for the responses, and great idea to visit and measure friend's staircases .... I think a lot of this week will be spent going up and down stairs to see what I am comfortable with. Our treads are 260mm (our builder said this is the minimum that he likes to do in a home) ... another thing I will have to check out at people's homes. Our friends are going to get annoyed with us, the last 18 months have been spent bombarding them with questions about their paint colours, architraves, kitchen set-ups, flooring, etc every time I visit. I have no idea what to do if we are not happy about the stairs, being that the house is a front door away from lock-up and everyone is ready to start on the inside totally changing the staircase design (to turn back on itself or something) is going to cause a few major issues. Staircases and sausages. Should thou wish to keep thy palate sweet for sausages, avert thine eyes from their crafting. 14 4551 Not sure if that works? I was told the issue is the headspace clearance requirement on step 4. My builder is proposing shifting the beam 310mm towards the kitchen...I'm… 2 2496 Personally, considering your layout (study/work desks in bedrooms), I don't think you have any other option but to leave NW windows and make them as big as possible e.g.… 7 10455 |