Stairs

Stairs are a means of travelling between different two floor levles. The design of stairs must conform to Australian Building Codes and at the same time meet the requirements and limitatios that may be inherited from both clients and building design restrictions. Understanding the range of possibilities in design, recognising restrictions and Understanding the Australian Building Codes is critical to the process of design manufacture and installation of stairs. Stairs may be designed in a variety of forms to provide practicality, function, decoration and aesthetic appeal.
 * Common Stair Types**



Stairs are made from many materials, the most common being timer of timber based products, but stone, masonry and stell are also used steel, and sometimes, in combination with other products.
 * Stair Materials:**


 * Stair parts:**
 * PARTS OF TIMBER STAIRS**
 * //String://** There may be one or two strings to a flight, which are the inclined sides of the stairs designed to carry the load transferred from the treads and risers.
 * //Tread://** This is the wide horizontal member between strings to form the top of the step.
 * //Riser board://** This is the narrow horizontal member between strings to form the vertical face of each step.
 * //Nosing://** This is the rounded front edge of the tread, which projects past the face of the riser board. Its purpose is to finish the tread edge and widen the tread to prevent the riser from being kicked or scraped.
 * //Glue blocks://** Triangular blocks of timber fitted under the back of the tread/riser connection to hold the two together.
 * //Wedge://** These are tapered lengths of timber driven into prepared tapered housings in the string, placed behind the riser and under the tread to ensure a tight top side gap-free fit.
 * //Newel post://** This is an upright post, to which the strings and handrail are attached.
 * //Handrail://** A rail fixed between newel posts parallel to the top edge of the string, to provide a safety rail for stair users.
 * //Balusters://** These are the small sectioned vertical members, with a Max. 125mm opening size placed between the handrail and string.
 * //Balustrade://** This is the whole framing, which comprises of a handrail, balusters, newel posts and string or kick plate for landing balustrades.
 * //Spandrel://** This is the triangular shaped space formed between the underside of the string and the floor.

For further information on stairs terminolgy you can also check out Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway
 * View** this slide show to see more on **Stair Types and Parts**

There are well strings and wall strings, closed and cut strings, cut and bracketed strings, and they are just the straight ones. All can be curved, either circular or eliptical in shape. Wall stings are strings that fit against a wall while well strings are on an open side of the stair flight
 * Strings:**

Is the most common style of string used. In many cases the strings are housed to recieve treads (and risers IF used). Note the use of marging lines Treads and risers can be cleat fixed as an alternative to housing Cut strings are more decorative and are often used on the well side only while the wall string is a closed string Cut and bracketed strings are teh most decorative of strings. The string is cut as per the cut string and brackets are applied after. Allowance for the thickness of the brackets has to be made for the riser, treads (and scotia moulds if used).
 * Closed string:**
 * Cut string:**
 * Cut and bracketed string**

Parts supporting the treads and risers are generally hidden beneath the treads and rises These include:
 * Whats beneath a set of stairs?**
 * Wedges**; that fill the housing and force the treads and risesrs to the face joint.
 * Carriage piece**: this materials runs the length of the flight in the middle of the tread an risers for support in wide steps (usually over 900mm wide)
 * Glue blocks :** used tosupport treds and rises nad reduce "creaking"

Spandrel walls and soffit panelling are used to enclose the triangular area below to provide storage space and the underside of stair flights to hide stair construction. Follow the link below to see an good example of how it can be done. [|spandrel panelling picture]
 * Spandrel walls and Soffit panels**

Interesting Stair companies worth a visit: [|Slattery & Acquroff Staircases]

Useful textbook
More information on stair design, set and construction is in Chapter 9 of **Advanced Building and Joinery Skills** by Greg Cheetham See [|Pearson Education Australia] link for more details on how you can obtain a copy