A well-planned and designed stair should be comfortable, quick, safe and easy to use. Different aspects which are to be considered in the planning and design of stairs are discussed below.
Location
The location of stairway should be so chosen such that sufficient ventilation and light should be available. If it is feasible, it may be located centrally so as to be of easily accessible from different parts of a building.
Width of Stair
Width of a stair, in general, should be adequate for the users without much crowd. It depends very much on the type of building and the number of users. In general, 1.0 m width is adopted for residential building and about 1.5 m width for public buildings.
Pitch of a Stair
The pitch or slope of a stair should prevent undue exortion to the user and at the same time there should not be any waste of space. Normally the slope of a stair should not exceed 40° and should not be flatter than 20°.
Length of a Flight
In order to make the ascend comfortably, the stairway should not have steps more than 12 and a minimum of 3.
Headroom
The headroom or the clear distance between the tread and the soffit of the flight immediately should be adequate. This should be at least 2.14 m.
Materials of a Stair
Construction of a stair should be carried out with sound and fireproof materials. Further, it should be adequately durable so as to have long life as that of the other materials used for the construction of the building.
Landing
The width of landing should not be less than the width of a stair.
Winder
As far as possible, the introduction of a winder should be avoided. They are liable to be dangerous. If it is inevitable, it may be provided near the lower end of a flight. Thus instead of quarter-space landing, three winders may be used. Similarly for half-space landing five winders or four radiating risers may be adopted.
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