Focus On: Stairs

Unfortunately our stair builder Alex Karlo doesn't have a website I can link to. He does have a MySpace page, but that's not the same thing now is it? Regardless of his lack of web footprint (how 1995 of him! So cute!) we think he rocks pretty hard and he's managed to design some pretty damn awesome stairs for us.

Our architect Alden Maddry came up with the basic idea for the stairs and built a model. Remember that we have a two story opening for these stairs so it would essentially be two of these stacked on top of each other

Now basic ideas and models are all well and good, but there are pesky things like the building code and the way in which the thing will actually be built and secured that need to be worked out. So Alden, Alex and Tim (our builder from EcoRise) put their big brains together to work out the actual details of the building. It became quickly apparent that the design would involve the two risers perpendicular to the wall being steel with wooden treads while the center piece would be stainless steel with wood treads. The idea was to completely separate the design element of the side risers from the center riser. Also, we wanted the center riser to attach only to the side risers, not to the wall, and give the appearance that it was floating in space. It all sounds very pretty, but building it safely and up to code while not compromising the design was the subject of many, many meetings between the four of us and lots of heated debate and head butting. 

At one point, Alex and Tim worked out a detail where the center riser would not have wood treads; it would just be a sheet of stainless that bent back underneath each step to conform to the building code that requires stairs to have an overlapping tread. Here's what it would look like from the side:

Here is the opening cut for the stairs, with our old hallway stair stuck in it for temporary access up and down

Then the section opening was cut to the cellar for the second section of the stairs

From the cellar looking up two floors

The areas where the steel risers would bolt in the floor were marked and later cut out in the exposed brick wall

The riser went in and the brick was cemented back in around it

Two risers with no middle connection

Riser to the cellar, with the old rickety stairs to the cellar placed in between to make them usable

View from the living room (you can still see the temporary stair places in the section that will soon just be open to above)

The bent metal sections were installed to the cellar

And later between the first floor and the basement

Here they are one on top of the other

Straight on, where you can see how they are supported from underneath and bolted into the steel risers that are cemented into the wall

Later the railings were installed, making the stairs much less treacherous

Deciding on the stair cabling proved to be a bit more difficult choice, with literally hundreds of fittings to chose from, ranging from merely expensive to obscenely expensive. Alex made a sample with some possibilities

In the end he wound up finding a less expensive and very nice oval shaped fitting that we went with…very nice…

Then the temporary pine treads were replaces with Sapele treads…so stripey!

Here's what they look like when they aren't dirty

Last but not least, the Sapele cap rails were put into place and all was right with the world

Comments

[Jerusha Lang Andrade]

Love the stairs! Is Alex Karlo from Texas? I'd love to know.

[Jerusha Lang Andrade]

Love the stairs! Is Alex Karlo from Texas? I'd love to know.

[dana]

yup!

[Rich]

Nice stair. Can you give some details on how much the bent-metal portion cost to fabricate and who did it for you? I've designed a straight stair that is completely bent metal, similar to what you've shown, but am having trouble finding a fabricator.
Best, Rich