The Feet Needed for Curved Stairs

Square Feet Needed and Saved

• According to the experts at The Iron Shop, a manufacturer of bespoke spiral staircases, the average residential unit “Takes up 32 square feet.” The average regular staircase occupies 80 square feet of floor space, so the saving in this instance is 48 square feet of floor space, or approximately 60 percent.

Financial Implications

• It is worth translating that space saving into financial value. In many city centers, such as Manhattan, and resort destinations, such as Key West, available square footage valued at $1,000 per square foot would be a bargain. The installation of the spiral staircase in the example above, therefore, would have increased the property value by a minimum of $48,000; installation costs are likely to be a fraction of that.

Materials

• Spiral staircases can be made of virtually any material that will suit the surrounding design and decor. Specialist companies, who typically employ their own design teams, produce bespoke spiral staircases specifically to customer’s requirements. They can manufacture extremely strong spiral staircases from carbon steel and stainless steel, and use forged and galvanized iron as well as aluminum and the more traditional wood. This choice makes spiral staircases a viability for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

Doing It Yourself

• Software can be purchased to design a curved staircase according to the required final dimensions, and produces exact measurements for all the components necessary for its construction, including the recommended material thickness, number of risers, step width, number of newel posts, and details of the stringers, handrails and balusters. This can be done by inserting the central point of the staircase on the screen and using the keyboard to input the radius, by programming in an existing arc into which the staircase must fit, or by reusing a preexisting design. The software typically is defaulted to design a spiral that turns through 90 degrees, but this can be reset.