Fine Homebuilding: Stairs are essentially the obstacle course of buildings, and along with bathrooms, they are one of the most hazardous features in a house. Unlike with water heaters, electrical service, or fire-protection safety features, the safety of stairs is directly related to how the occupant uses them. If we all got on our knees and slowly crawled up and down every set of stairs, fall-related injuries would cease.
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Staircases are not a topic I often think about, but after a semester of learning about production and building sets, I have a new appreciation for the regulation of staircase dimensions. The information in this article made me think about the stairs in my own home, which was built in the 1920s, and how some flights of stairs are near impossible to navigate in a practical manner. The article says that these regulations have been in place for several generations, so I am not sure whether the 1920s is too long ago to be included within that range. However, at least two flights of stairs in my house are definitely not to regulation. The basement stairs are taller than is practical, and the bottom step is at least 2 inches higher than the rest of the steps. In addition, the three steps leading from the back door up to the first floor are too steep to be safe, and the rise is angle so that your foot can easily catch on it as you lift your foot to the next step.
I found it interesting that spiral staircases do not follow nearly any of the same rules surrounding most other staircases, which completely validates the claim that code for staircases is almost entirely determined by use instead of a more theoretical approach to the structural stability of stairs. It made me think of how far this kind of reasoning can go for design and how big a spiral staircase has to become in order for it to need to follow code similar to that of a standard staircase. Visions of grandiose spiral staircases come to mind (although these have likely been specifically engineered) that seem to fall in a certain gray area of staircase code. Further, I also learned more about nosing after looking into this online since I was uncertain what the purpose of nosing was, especially when tread depth was based on the distance between edges of nosing instead of just the depth of the tread itself. Since it is just to increase surface area for stepping on, I now better understand these rules around it.
This article was a very interesting read and there was a lot more about stair code that I had previously thought I knew, but ultimately didn’t. Many of the specifics about stair code I didn't know that much about, though I knew some of the basics like 7 inch rise and 10 inch run. I liked the concise and condensed nature of the article, it made for a very bite sized read that I would feel good about re-reading if I forgot some of the information. I’m not sure I could do the same with the full IRC or IBC code books. It was cool to learn that hose organizations exist in protecting against a very large danger in many people's lives. I had no idea that the Stairway Manufacturers Association was an association that existed, but I am glad nonetheless that it does. On a different last note, I liked the section on spiral staircases and the fact that we see it as more dangerous so we are more careful and we are less careful on regular staircases just because they seem regular and standard.
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