Author: Haroon Khalil

Stone stairs are heavy and need substantial supports. They are preferred for outside stairs and for threshold, approach to basements, heating chambers, etc. Due to regular use, the steps become slippery and dangerous. Stones are in general hard, durable and weather resistant. They are widely used at places where ashlar stones are readily available. Different…

Timber or wooden stairs are generally used for residential buildings because of its light weight and less usage. Further, this is preferred in areas where abundant wood is available. They are easy to construct and maintain. But they are liable to fire accidents. Timber should be free of fungal decay, insect attacks and other defects.…

Timber, stone, brick, steel, plain concrete and reinforced cement concrete (RCC) are in general the materials used for construction of stairs. They are accordingly classified based on the type of material used for construction.

It is an open-well type of stair which has four flights each with flight turn of 90°. It has an excellent view in a building (Fig. 21.8). Figure 21.8 Multiple flight stairs

In these stairs, the bottom flight is wide which is divided into narrow flights from either side of the landing (Fig. 21.7). This type of stair is provided in modern public buildings. Figure 21.7 Bifurcated staircase

These stairs have no newel post and may be of any geometrical shape. Here the strings and hand rails are continuous and are set out in accordance with geometrical principles. Thus these stairs are also called as continuous stairs. They may be winding stairs, half-turn stairs (with landing or newels) and spiral stairs (Fig. 21.6).…

This type of stairs is provided with change in directions by 270°. That is, the direction is changed three times. In this case, an open-well is provided (Fig. 21.5). It is also called open newel stair. Figure 21.5 Three quarter-turn stairs

In this type of stairs, the direction of flight is changed through 180° by introduction of landings and or winders. A half-space landing may be used. It is also called as dog-legged stairs. This type of stair is useful where the width of the stair-case is just sufficient to accommodate two widths of stair (Fig.…

This type of stairs is preferred when there is a need for change of direction by 90°. The change in direction may be accompanied by providing either by introducing quarter-space landing or by providing winders (Fig. 21.3). Figure 21.3 Quarter-turn stairs

In this type of stairs, there is no change in direction of any flight between successive floors. These stairs may have (i) straight run with a single flight or (ii) straight run with a series of flights with one or two landings in between. If the staircase hall is long and narrow, only straight stairs…