UNITY UNIVERSITY

DEPARTEMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION (CENG 4071)

CHAPTER-7
STAIRS
By: Fekadu B.
CON TEN TS
 Introduction
 Technical terminologies
 Classification of stairs
 Stairs of different materials
 Essential requirements of a good stair
 Ladders
 Ramps
 Elevators
 Escalators
 Access in buildings can be classified into categories:
 Moving
 Stationary
I. Moving
An elevator, a staircase or a belt that moves by using different kinds of electrical
or hydraulic driving motors. For example:
• An elevator or lift
• Escalator
• Conveyor
• For the case of handicaps there are moving chairs
II. Stationary
Most widely used access in buildings. There is no any motor that drive the
system, rather it is fixed.
• Stairs,
• Different kinds of ladders,
• Ramps, Corridors.
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 Stairs are set of steps leading from one
floor to another and are provided in
building to afford a means of
communication between the various
floors.
 Steps arranged in series and placed in
an enclosure is called Stair Case.
 Stairs should be designed properly to
provide proper:
 Ventilation
 Light (Natural)
 Location: Near Main Entrance for
Public Buildings and Centrally for
easy access and privacy in
Residential Buildings.

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PRIMARY FUNCT ION OF STAIRS
1. Provide a means of
circulati on between floor
levels.
2. Establish a safe means of
travel between floor levels.
3. Provide an easy means of
travel between floor levels.
4. Provide a means of conveying
fittings and furniture between
floor levels.

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 Step: is a portion of stair which permits ascent or descent.
 It is comprised of a tread and a riser. A stair is composed of a set
of steps.
 Tread: is the horizontal member of stair.
 The tread of public buildings must be wide enough to provide
safe footing.
 Going: is the horizontal distance b/n the nosings or front edges of
two consecutive steps.
 It is usually 30cm for public buildings so that it is wide enough
to provide safe footings.
 Riser: is the vertical member of a stair.
 Rise: Is the vertical distance b/n the upper surface of two
consecutive steps.
 The rise of public building is about 15cm while a higher value
can be used for private buildings.

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 Nosing: it is the projecting part of the tread beyond the face of the
ri ser.
 It is usually rounded off from the architectural point of view.
 Fligh t: is a continuous set of steps b/n floors and/or landing.
 Landing: is a pl atform b/n two fligh ts.
 Balu ster: is the verti cal member which supports the hand rail.
 The combined framework of hand rail and bal uster is known as
bal ustrade.
 String or stringer: is the structural member which supports the steps
and act as inclined beams.
 Hand rail: is a rounded or mol ded member of wood or metal fix ed
on the top of bal usters.
 Head room : is the minimumcl ear verti cal di stance b/n the tread and
overhead structure.
 Soffit: It is the under si de of the stair.

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 Run: it is the total length of stairs in a horizontal plane, including
landings.
 Newel post: Is the vertical member which is placed at the ends of
flight to connect the end stings and handrail.
 Winders: are tapering steps which are provided for changing the
direction of stair.

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  Stairs can be classified into two broad heads:

STAIRS

STRAIGHT STAIRS TURNING STAIRS  Each of the turning stairs are

of the three types:
QUARTER TURN  Newel stairs
STAIR
 Well or open-newel
stairs, and
HALF TURN STAIR
 Geometrical stairs

THREE – QUARTER
TURN STAIRS

BIFURCATING
STAIRS

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straight b/n the two floors.
 It is used for small houses where
there are restrictions in available
width.
 The stair may consist of either one
single flight or more than one
flight (usually two) with a
landing.

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Straight stairs

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2. QUARTER TURN STAIRS: IS THE ONE WHICH CHANGES ITS DIRECTION EITHER
TO THE LEFT OR TO THE RIGHT.

 The turn being affected either by introducing a quarter

space landing or by providing winders.
 Quarter turn stairs are of two types:
A. Newel quarter turn stairs
B. Geometrical quarter turn stairs.
A. New Quarter turn stairs
 These stairs have the conspicuous newel posts at the beginning and
end of each flight.
 At the quarter turn, there may either be quarter space landing or
there may be winders.

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A. NEWEL QU AR TER TURN STAIRS

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B. GEOMETRICAL QUARTER TURN STAIRS
 The stringer as well as the hand rail is continuous, with no newel post
at the landing.

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3. HALFTURN STAIRS: IS THE ONE WHICH HAS ITS
DIRECTION REVERSED OR CHANGED FOR 180 .
 Such stairs are quite common.
 Half turn stairs are of three types:
A. Dog-legged or newel half turn stairs.
B. Open newel half turn stairs.
C. Geometrical half turn stairs.
A. Dog-legged stairs
 The name is given because of its appearance in sectional elevation.
 It comes under the category of newel stairs in which newel posts are provided
at the beginning and end of each flight.
 These may be of two types:
 With half space landing
 With quarter space landing and winders

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A. DOG-LEGGED STAIRS

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B. Open newel half turn stair
 Has a space or well between the outer strings. This is the only aspect in
which it differs from the dog legged stairs.
 Additional width is required b/n the two flights. When the space
provided is more, a small flight containing two to four steps may be
introduced.

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B. OPEN NEWEL HALF TURN STAIR

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C. Geom etrical half turn stairs
 The essential feature of such stairs are that the stringers and the hand
rails are continuous, without any intervening newel post.
 This may be either with half-space landing or without.

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.
4 T hree qu arter turn stairs: has its direction changed three times with
its upper flight crossing the bottom one.
 It may either be newel type or open newel type
 Such type of stair is used when the length of the stair room is
limited and when the vertical distance b/n the two floors is quite
large .
.
5 B ifurcated stairs: The stair has a wider flight at the bottom, which
bifurcates into two narrow flights one turning to the left and the other
to the right, at the landing.
 It may be either of newel type with a newel post or of
geometrical type
 This type of stair is commonly used in public buildings at their
entrance hall.

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5. B IFURCATED STAIRS:

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 6. CON TINU OU S STAIRS: TYPE OF STAIRS WHICH DO
NEITHER HAVE ANY LANDING
nor any intermediate newel post.
 They are geometrical in shape.
 Continuous stairs may be of three types:
 Circular stairs,
 Spiral stairs, and
 Helical stairs.
A. Circularstairs:
 Has circular plan configuration.

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B. Spiral stairs:
 They are usually made either
of R.C.C. or metal.
 They are employed at a
location where there are space
limitations.
 They are also used as
emergency stairs and are
provided at the back side of
the building.
 All the steps are winders.
Therefore they are not
comfortable.

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B. Helical stairs:
 Looks very fine but its
structural design and
construction is very
complicated.
 It is made of R.C.C. in
which a large portion of
steel is required to resist
bending, shear and torsion.

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 The selection of materials for the construction of stairs depend up on
 The availability of materials and ease of transportation
 Funds
 Desired life of building
 Aesthetical importance
 Freedom of design
 Expected fire resisting quality
 Thus, stairs may be made either of timber, bricks, stones, mild steel.
Wrought iron, or plain and reinforced concrete.
I. Timber stairs
 Light in weight and easy to construct.
 They have poor fire resistance and sound insulation.
 They are unsuitable for high rise residential buildings and for
public buildings.
 The timber to be used should be well treated before use.
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I. TIMBER STAIRS

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II. CONCRETE STAIRS
 They are most widely used for
residential, public and industrial
buildings.
 They are strong, durable, can
take any desired shape and have
good fire resistance.
 They are less noisy, can be kept
clean and may have more
attracting appearances if suitable
finishes are used.
 Reinforced concrete stairs can
be cast-in-situ or prefabricated.

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III. PRE-CAST CONCRETE STAIRS
 Have the following advantages:
a) Good quality control of finished
product.
b) Saving in site space since
formwork fabrication and storage
will not be required.
c) The stair can be installed at any
time after the floors have been
completed thus giving full
utilization to the stair shaft as a
lifting or hoisting space if
required.
d) Hoisting, positioning and fixing
can usually be carried out by
semi-skilled labor.

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IV. METAL STAIRS
 these can be produced in cast iron,
mild steel or aluminum alloy for
use as escape stairs or for internal
accommodation stairs.
 They make a lot of noise and can
be built in a smaller area.
 They are normally manufactured
in a workshop and fixed on site,
which makes it faster and will be
functional immediately.
 Their main advantage is the
elimination of the need for
formwork.
 Spiral stairs are mainly made of
metal.

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V. STONE STAIRS
 They are strong and rigid and are widely used at the main entrance of
public buildings.
 Stones for such stairs should be dressed and properly bounded to each
other.
 Stone used for the construction of stairs should be hard, strong, and
resistant to wear.
VI. Brick stairs
 Similar to stone stairs, brick stairs are used at the entrance of a building.
 Special quality of bricks should be used for the construction of stairs.
 Brick steps may be plastered or pointed at all the joints.
 If properly made, brick stairs are durable, have good aesthetic value, but
requires frequent maintenance.

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 Stairs should be designed so as to provide easy, quick and safe mode of
communication b/n the floors. The following are the general
requirements which a stair should fulfill.
A. . Location:
i. It should be so located as to provide easy access to the occupants
of the building.
ii. It should be so located that it is well lighted and ventilated
directly from the exterior.
iii. It should be so located as to have approaches convenient and
spacious.
B. Widthof stair:
 It should be wide enough to carry the user with out much
crowd or inconvenience.
 Width of stairs depends up to its location in the building and
the type of the building itself.
 If a domestic building, a 90cm wide stair is sufficient while
in public building, 1.5-1.8m width may be required.
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C. length OF FLIGHT:
 From comfort point of view, the number of steps are not more
than 12 and not less than 3.
D. Pitch of stair:
Its ascent should be relatively easy.
Stairs for public building should have a pitch of 38 and for
private buildings the pitch should not be more than 42 .

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E. HEAD ROOM
 The clear
E. HEAD R OOMdistance b/n: the tread and soffit of the flight
immediately above it should not be less than 2.1-2.3m
F. Balustrad:
 Open well stairs should always be provided with balustrade, to
provide safety to the users.
 Wider stairs should have hand rail to both the sides.

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G. STEP DIMEN SION S:
 The rise and going should be of such dimension as to provide
comfort to the users.
 Their proportion should also be such as to provide desirable pitch
of the stair.
 The going should not be less than 25cm, though the 30cm is quite
comfortable.
 The rise should be b/n 10cm (for hospitals, etc) to 15cm.
 The width of landing should not be less than the width of a stair.
• Rise + Tread ≥ 40 and ≤ 45cm
• 2Rise + Tread ≥ 58 and ≤ 63cm
• Rise x Tread ≥ 400 and ≤ 500cm2

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 Ladders are used primarily in industrial construction and in utility and
service areas.

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 Ramps shall be provided to allow wheel chair access and luggage
path in hotels, for stretchers in hospitals for loading and unloading
in warehouses and factories.

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 Elevators travel vertically to carry passengers, equipments and
freight from one level of the building to another.
 The two most common types are electric and hydraulic elevator.

Electric el evator:
 Consist of a car that is mounted on guide rails supported by
hoisting cables, and driven by electric hoisting machinery in a pent
house.
Hydraulic elevator:
 Consist of a car supported by a piston that is moved by or moves
against a fluid under pressure.
 The type, size, number, speed and arrangement of elevators are
determined by:
 Type of occupancy
 Amount and tempo of traffic to be carried
 Total vertical distance of travel
 Round-trip time and speed desired. 40
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 Escalators are power driven stairways consisting of steps attached to
continuously circulating belt.
 They can move a large number of people efficiently and
comfortably b/n a limited number of floors, six floors are a
practicably limit.
 Since escalator move at a constant speed, there is a practically no
waiting period, but there should be adequate queuing space at each
loading and discharge.
 The pitch varies b/n 30-35 .
 Escalators are usually used in public areas like airport, shopping
malls, etc.
 Escalators are typically used in pairs with one going up and other
going down.

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THANK YOU!

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