Making a Winding Staircase

Making a Winding Concrete Staircase

Winding staircases are usually constructed where the space is constricted. This is when a straight flight with a normal landing is not possible. The house design will have the upper floor with a normal height as for a straight flight stair. It is important that the head room is maintained as this will prevent hitting the upper floor slab with the head when walking up or down the stair well.

Winding concrete stair cases can be made to be economical on reinforcements and other materials. This does not need to have a full sized tread of nine hundred millimeters. The tread width can be four hundred and fifty millimeters wide and having a normal riser height. This height is usually minimum of a hundred and fifty millimeters high. The winding can be through three hundred and sixty degrees or less but this will greatly depend on the point of landing. The number of treads is eighteen including the landing.

The construction of a winding concrete stair commences by measuring the floor to floor headroom. The height of two thousand seven hundred millimeters headroom will give eighteen risers of a hundred and fifty millimeters each. Starter bars are first cast onto the ground floor slab. The intended width is four hundred and fifty millimeters wide. The form work is then made to the top of the upper floor and it is curved round up to the next floor. The height of each riser is marked onto the form sides. The reinforcements are then tied and joined with the exposed upper floor steel.

After the steel is in place, the riser form work is then fixed as marked while winding. This is repeated and adjustments done until all treads are equal to the top. Concrete is cast and vibrated. After fourteen days of curing the form work is removed and the finishing works begin . Winding handrails are fixed on both sides to the top for safety.