For example, if you were crazy and built a staircase with a 12 inch tread and riser, then the angle of the stringer to the floor would be 45 degrees. A more common angle is about 37 degrees. Why do stairs have landings? How wide should a stair landing be? A flight of stairs shall not have a vertical rise larger than 12 feet mm between floor levels or landings. The width of each landing shall not be less than the width of the stairway served.
Every landing shall have a minimum dimension of 36 inches mm measured in the direction of travel. What is the maximum rise of a step?
For recommendations on rise-run combos, see the tip below. Are open stairs legal? The building regulations stipulate that a mm sphere should not be able to fit through the staircase at any point.
This means that, generally open riser staircases cannot have fully open risers. Can you put a door at the top of stairs? Installing an interior door into an existing door frame at the top of the stairs is the best choice to protect your family and separate the levels. A prehung door is easiest, but you must remain aware of the stairs during installation. Which side should handrail be on stairs? Both sides are better and safer too for installing stair railings. There are no standard rules.
But mostly It is suggested on the right hand side as you go down the stairs. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Landing at stairs. Thread starter Sifu Start date Jun 11, Sifu Sawhorse. Joined Sep 3, Messages 1, It is my interpretation that there must be a 36" landing between the bottom riser of a set of steps and a door.
In other words one should not be forced to come down a set of steps and be forced to grope for a door knob while standing on the last tread. You are correct. Now, you can have one at the top of the steps without a landing, which you are still doing the groping while standing on the last tread. There shall be a floor or landing at the top and bottom of each stairway. Exception: A floor or landing is not required at the top of an interior flight of stairs, provided a door does not swing over the stairs.
A flight of stairs shall not have a vertical rise greater than 12 feet mm between floor levels or landings. The width of each landing shall not be less than the stairway served. Every landing shall have a minimum dimension of 36 inches mm measured in the direction of travel. There shall be a floor or landing on each side of each exterior door. Exception: Where a stairway of two or fewer risers is located on the exterior side of a door, other than the required exit door, a landing is not required for the exterior side of the door.
The floor or landing at the exit door required by Section R The floor or landing at exterior doors other than the exit door required by Section R The width of each landing shall not be less than the door served.
KZQuixote Sawhorse. Sifu said: "there must be a 36" landing between the bottom riser of a set of steps and a door. Obviously once the door is opened there is a landing. Given that exterior doors are specifically addressed and interior doors are not, wouldn't the inference be that there is no requirement prohibiting a door within 36" of the bottom of an interior stairway?
Does the Commentary address this? Last edited by a moderator: Jun 11, Mac Gold Member. There is a requirement for the landing at the bottom of stairs, but I don't see any mention - yea or nay - of doors at the bottoms. Big Mac Gold Member. Joined Oct 22, Messages It seems logical that a landing is an unencombered floor space. Now, if it was just an opening without a door that could be closed, I might view it differently. There shall be a floor or landing at the top and bottom of each stairway.
The width of landings shall not be less than the width of stairways they serve. Every landing shall have a minimum dimension measured in the direction of travel equal to the width of the stairway.
Such dimension need not exceed 48 inches mm where the stairway has a straight run. Stairways must have a landing , top and bottom, equal to the width of stairs.
Doors opening onto a landing shall not reduce the landing to less than one-half the required width. Stairways that will not be a permanent part of the structure on which construction work is being performed shall have landings of not less than 30 inches 76 cm in the direction of travel and extend at least 22 inches 56 cm in width at every 12 feet 3.
Such dimension need not exceed 48 inches 1 mm where the stairway has a straightway has a straight run. When fully open, the door shall not project more than 7 inches mm into a landing. And though it should go without saying, the recommended stairway landing or platform width is equal to the stairway width.
The platform or walking surface can be wider, of course, such as occurs when stairs end at a balcony, deck, or walkway.
Sketch of stairwell width showing a door swinging out over a landing set on the same level as the interior floor is provided courtesy Carson Dunlop Associates , a Toronto home inspection, education, and report writing tool firm. In this drawing the required handrails have been omitted for clarity. Notice that a stair top landing is not required if the door at the top of the stair opens away from the stairwell.
The minimum stair landing length - distance in the direction of travel out of a doorway - is 36 inches mm measured in the direction of travel. Or the landing at the out-swinging door must have a length and width sufficiently greater than the swing of the door if a wider door is present - this is to permit passing the door and opening or closing it. That is, the stairway user needs room in platform length or width to give space on which to stand when operating the door.
The landing must be at least as wide as the stairway served; most codes require a stairway to be 36" wide or wider. So the landing will be 36" wide or wider. We often find older one and two family homes at which a door opens directly onto a stairway without a top landing platform. Some opine that if the door swings into a room, away from that top step, the hazard is reduced and a landing is not required.
In fact, while in some circumstances the model codes permit omission of a landing if the door swings in, away from the steps down but that's a really bad design. Just consider that a person approaching the door from the stairs has to stand on a small area or even a lower step to open the door - a position that can be awkward. In our OPINION, a landing on both sides of a door is recommended for practical reasons and such a landing is indeed required by some codes:.
Landings shall have a width not less than the width of the stairway or the door, whichever is the greater. Doors in the fully open position shall not reduce a required dimension by more than 7 inches mm.
When a landing serves an occupant load of 50 or more, doors in any position shall not reduce the landing to less than one-half its required width. Landings shall have a length measured in the direction of travel of not less than 44 inches 1 mm.
During its swing, any door in a means of egress shall leave unobstructed at least one half of the required width of an aisle, corridor, passageway, or landing, nor project more than 7 inches mm into the required width of an aisle, corridor, passageway or landing, when fully open. Doors shall not open immediately onto a stair without a landing. The landing shall have a width at least equal to the width of the door. See Section for door swing in Group E occupancies.
As you can see in our photo at left, a door is opening out over a stairwell and no landing is provided. Because the ergonomics of a person placing their hand on a doorknob and opening the door tends to guide where they put their foot in stepping out and down, the absence of a landing here is a serious trip and fall hazard that is prohibited by building codes and by good construction practice.
Landings must have a width and a dimension measured in the direction of travel not less than the width of the stairway. Doors in the fully open position shall not reduce a required dimension by more than 7 inches.
These landings shall be as wide as the door and a minimum of 36 inches in the direction of travel. These landings must be no more than 8 inches below the interior floor level. If the door swings out over the landing this dimension is 1 inch maximum. An interior door at the top of a flight of stairs need not have a landing at the top of the stairs, provided the door swings away from the stairs.
Stair Landings are required at top and bottom with exceptions at top of interior stairs or in garage if door swings in, away from the stairs. We have stairs in our living room and are planning on putting a partition wall up to block sound traveling up stairs and to also stop heat loss. My question is- would a door put at the bottom of the stairs pass British building regs? There are no other doors to obstruct this door. Thanks for your help. Stair codes do indeed discuss the requirement for a landing or in my words, walking space at the bottom of a stairway on page 19 of the model document we cite below.
Above: illustration of Diagram 7 p. This space should not be intruded upon by the swing of a door at the stair bottom. Illustration adapted from Approved Document K p. Your landing has to be at least mm in dimension in the direction of travel at the foot of the stairway; the swing of your door, if it opens towards the landing, has to not intrude into that space.
I herewith repeat your question and include a link to the U. See page 19 in the U. A door may swing across a landing at the bottom of a flight [of stairs], but only as shown in Diagram 7 [see our adapation above where the red rectangles mark the required free travel landing area that should not be intruded-into by the swing of the door - Ed.
In industrial settings where there may be special requirements for maintenance of equipment but not normal walking traffic, a landing or platform requirement will differ.
Oiling platforms shall be constructed in a permanent and substantial manner at least 18 inches in width with a standard railing along one side. Toeboards are not required on oiling platforms. New Platforms. Industrial equipment access stairs and landings that serve as a component of the means of egress from the involved equipment and do not serve more than 20 people shall be permitted to have a minimum clear width of 22 inches mm , minimum tread depth of 10 inches mm , maximum riser height of 9 inches mm , minimum headroom of 6 feet 8 inches 2 mm , and a maximum height between landings of 12 feet 36 mm.
As our friend Nizar in the photo is demonstrating at his home near Rabat, in Morocco, it can be very difficult to open a door that swings out over a step while you're standing on the step.
Like the example shown above, this is a trip hazard but in this case also it's also difficult to enter the building at all. While standing on the step the person trying to open the door has to step backwards, down the steps, while opening this security door. Your hand on the knob of the opening door tends to guide where you put your foot.
Particularly someone not familiar with the building and who opens a door to walk out is at extra risk of stepping off into space where they expected a walking surface. The result can be a fall and injury. The rental property is located in Suffolk County, New York. In most countries and jursdictions what you describe is also a code violation - the door is opening onto a stair in this case a single step down without a landing - where a landing would be on the same level as the walking surface up to the door.
The local building inspector is the final "legal" authority on whether or not your design is violates local building codes, but in my OPINION, the hazard in our photos is made greater by the fact that the direction of travel out of the door is down and additional flight of stairs.
Someone losing their balance while stepping out of the doorway may well fall down the stairs - thus risking a still-greater injury. Watch out : relying on citing a hazard as "code violation" or "not code violation" will not address all safety hazards at buildings - codes cannot anticipate every possible SNAFU. If someone is hurt the injury and dispute about it will be notwithstanding.
Furthermore, you won't find a code official who's going to come into court later and say "yeah we should have called that out" - even if it was an obvious error. Can you see falling hazards at the stairs in this photo?
There could be other slip, trip, or fall hazards here that we cannot determine from the photo, such as poor or missing stairway lighting, stair walking surface conditions, and a loose or wobbly handrail or stair guardrailing.
The stairway landing shown abovec includes a window that lacks a guard railing or safety glass. Someone who falls down these stairs is at risk of suffering extra severe injuries should they fall into and break the window glass, or worse, fall right through the window. In Poughkeepsie NY our neighbor, a retired dentist, Dr. Thinking he was walking down a level hallway he instead stepped into air and fell down a stair such as this one.
The following shall be considered specific hazardous locations requiring safety glazing materials Glazing adjacent to stairways, landings and ramps within 36 inches mm horizontally of a walking surface; when the exposed surface of the glass is less than 60 inches mm above the plane of the adjacent walking surface. Glazing adjacent to stairways within 60 inches mm horizontally of the bottom tread of a stairway in any direction when the exposed surface of the glass is less than 60 inches mm above the nose of the tread.
Window fall protection shall be provided in accordance with Sections R In dwelling units, where the top of the sill of an operable window opening is located less than 24 inches mm above the finished floor and greater than 72 inches mm above the finished grade or other surface below on the exterior of the building, the operable window shall comply with one of the following:.
Operable windows with openings that will not allow a 4-inch-diameter mm sphere to pass through the opening where the opening is in its largest opened position. Operable windows that are provided with window opening control devices that comply with Section R The window opening control device, after operation to release the control device allowing the window to fully open, shall not reduce the net clear opening area of the window unit to less than the area required by Section R Handrailings at intermediate stairway platforms should be continuous and should be accessible in the area of stair passage.
Incomplete handrailings invite falls if stair users are likely to walk where there is no graspable handrailing or where open rail ends at intermediate platforms or landings form snag hazards.
Can it be argued that the top of the pyramid is considered a step and not a landing? John I took a look at the photo you cited: we have a stack of "platforms" forming four steps up from an interior floor and extending around both the entry and side of a stairway. Our edited photo appeared originally at houzz. It is possible that a local official approved these stairs though in my view they are unsafe. If they were declared "compliant" that won't help when someone falls and is injured.
There is a railing along the upper stairway starting at a newel on the fourth stair platform but not along the steps formed by the four platforms marked in yellow except along the left wall marked in green where no one will ever set-foot. That may comply with the letter of the law in the view of some designers or code compliance officers but in my opinion this is an unsafe stair that would be difficult for elderly or people with walking and stair disabilities.
In the area of principal walking assage from the two sides of this four-riser lower stairway there is no handrailing. I would expect an alert building code compliance officer to interpret this as an unsafe stair and call out this as a code defect.
My reasoning is not just that top of the "pyramid" or intermiediate walking area is a landing but that we've got multiple steps down past the end of the last handrailing. It's very attractive but it's a fall hazard. Thanks for the response.
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