Spiral or straight: choosing a stair for a tight space
When floor area is scarce, stair layout becomes a real decision rather than a default. Each arrangement buys you something and costs you something else.
Straight flights
A straight flight is the cheapest to make, the easiest to use and the most comfortable for carrying furniture. It needs the most floor length, roughly four metres of run for a typical domestic floor to floor height once landings are allowed for.
If you have the length, take it. Straight stairs also lend themselves best to open riser and feature designs, because the geometry is simple and the eye reads a clean line.
Quarter turn and switchback
Turning the stair through 90 or 180 degrees with a landing folds the run into a smaller footprint and often suits a hallway better. A switchback puts the top of the stair directly above the bottom, which can be ideal where the opening above is limited.
Winders, the tapered treads used to turn a corner without a landing, save more space again but are less comfortable and more tightly regulated, so they are worth checking with your certifier before committing.
Spiral and helical
A spiral around a central column has the smallest footprint of all and is the usual answer for access to a mezzanine, a loft office or a roof terrace. The trade off is real: carrying anything bulky up a spiral is difficult and the usable width of each tread is narrow at the inside.
A helical stair, which curves without a central column, is a different proposition entirely. It is beautiful and expensive, because every stringer section is rolled and set out individually.
What to send us
A floor plan with the available opening, the floor to floor height and a note of what the stair serves is enough for us to advise. If it is a main stair in a dwelling we will steer you away from a spiral in most cases.
We fabricate all of these types in our Dublin 22 workshop and measure on site before anything is cut.
Want this priced for your own job? Send us your drawings or a photo and we will come back with a fixed price, usually within one working day.
Common questions
Need this done properly? Talk to the workshop.
Send us drawings, a sketch or a site photo. We come back with a fixed price and a firm lead time, usually within one working day.