A Closer Look at Stair Shapes
Planning to turn an attic into a bedroom, build a two-story addition, or perch a deck over your backyard? If you are, selecting the right staircase can be critical to your project's success. Beyond performing their purely practical duties as vertical passageways, most staircases serve as powerful design elements, presenting strong vertical line, rhythm and pattern, and graceful forms. Indoors and out, a stairway is an opportunity for creative, sculptural expression.
Stairs may be spiral, straight, circular, or any of several other shapes. And, of course, they may be wide or narrow, steep or gradual. As a general rule, the wider the stair and more subtle the climb, the more inviting the staircase--and the more floor space it will consume.
Here's a closer look at the major types of stairs:
A straight stair stretches from lower to upper level in one straight run. Though this is the easiest type of stair to build, it can be difficult to squeeze into a floorplan.
A return stair divides the run, reversing direction a full 180 degrees at a landing.
An "L" stair makes a 90-degree turn at a landing.
A winder serves like an "L" stair, but requires less space (and is less safe to use) because the landing is divided into pie-shaped steps.
A circular stair generally sweeps in a broad curve from one level to another.
A spiral stair twists around a center pole in one of two ways. The common spiral stair has a straight center pole with steps radiating out from it; a helix-style spiral has a curving center support that follows the sweeping twist of the stair.
--Don Vandervort
