People who have stairs in their homes most often install wooden stairs. For the stairs - this is the best option, even if in itself it is made of metal or concrete.
Why a tree?
The great popularity of wood material for the manufacture of steps and other things can be explained by the following points:
- You can make items from this raw material with your own hands without spending too much effort on it, while it takes a lot of time and labor to create objects from metal or concrete;
- if the climb is internal, then a low heat conductivity will be a nice addition, which allows the wooden steps for the stairs to stay warm for a long time;
- Naturally, many are attracted by the aesthetic appearance of wooden structures;
- do not forget that with the right approach during manufacture and subsequent care, such material is able to serve for a long time and reliably, while remaining very durable.
What parameters are important for calculating
When calculating the size of the steps for a wooden staircase, it is important to take into account such parameters as:
- Height. The length of the vertical part, which is called the riser, acts as this characteristic. If we are talking about an internal staircase, then this parameter should be in the range from 15 to 22 cm.
- There is such an important parameter as depth. This concept refers to the distance that is considered from the edge of the tread to the riser. Since this parameter ensures the reliability of the foot support, it should be no less than 250 mm, but no more than 400 mm.
However, it is important to add here that the depth of the tread is a characteristic that can change. For example, if you take a spiral staircase, the depth at the outer edge will be greater than that at the inside. This also applies to the rotary type of stairs, in which the depth of the tread is the same only in the center, and when approaching the edges it changes, which greatly complicates the calculation of the rung steps for a wooden staircase of this type.
Extra options
When calculating these objects, it is also important to consider the width of the step. This is the distance between the edges of the object. It should be noted that this parameter is highly dependent on many factors. For example, if we talk about internal stairs, then the standard width varies between 90-100 cm. Suppose, if in the future there will be a constant movement along this staircase, then this value can quite increase to one and a half meters.
Another important factor is the thickness of the tread. It should be noted here that this parameter directly depends on the width of the step, the ratio is 1:20. In other words, if the width of the wooden step for the staircase is 90 cm, then its thickness should be 4.5 cm. This value can be reduced to 3.5 cm or increased to 6 cm, but no more. It is also important to know that when a step is applied to an existing coating, i.e. metal, concrete or wood, the thickness of the tread decreases by 1 cm.
The last important parameter for the calculation is the riser thickness, the sizes of which are in the range from 18 to 25 mm.
Important Rules
As with any installation work, there are some rules in the design of stairs.
- The steps of a wooden staircase can only be fastened to walls that are load-bearing made of concrete, brick or timber with a thickness of at least 25 cm. Fastening to walls made of drywall or asbestos cement, as well as laid out in one brick is strictly prohibited, since such supports will not stand the effort.
- Another important rule that concerns the fastening of wooden steps with a pillar as a support. The support element must be installed from below in a concrete screed on a wide slab. This is necessary in order to reduce the pressure from the building to the ceiling.
- If a metal staircase with wooden steps is mounted, at the base of which there is a vertical metal pole higher than the first floor, then fastening should be carried out on the supporting poles of the structure located on the lower floors.
Additional recommendations
It is also worth paying attention to additional recommendations that are used depending on what type of object is being installed.
- If the type of stairs is straight and single-marching, then its upper edge is attached to the ceiling, and the lower to the floor of the lower floor. In this case, everything will be held oblique, and additional fastenings for the steps or the stairs themselves are not needed.
- If the staircase is of a spiral type, but there is only one turn, then it is necessary to provide additional fastening to the wall in one place.
- If there are two turns, then in addition to fastening from above, from below and to the wall, you will also have to mount a support vertical pillar.
Mount to Kosoura
In stairs of this type, the kosour is the element that will perceive the entire load on itself. For this reason, the installation of steps solves two problems - it fixes the structure, avoiding vibration or displacement, and also hides the attachment points in open structures.
As the most simple way of attaching steps to a staircase of this type, drilling is considered and subsequent through-through installation through the kosour using long self-tapping screws. Most often they use self-tapping screws with decorative heads. If there are none, then they can be installed in secret. For this, a larger diameter drill is taken, a hole is drilled into which a self-tapping screw is screwed, and then closed with a decorative plug. Most often, this method is used in those objects that were originally assembled independently. It is important to note here that when drilling it is necessary to use only pen drills, and the drill must maintain high speeds. Only following these two recommendations will it be possible to avoid chipping at the mouth of the hole.
Metal staircase with wooden steps.
A rather important advantage of this type of staircase is that it successfully combines the aesthetics of wood and the strength of metal. However, the fastening of the steps will be somewhat more difficult, since the base is stronger than wood.
In order to mount the spans, you need to make holes every 15 cm. At the same time, about 2 cm deviate from the edge of the stairs. It is also important to take into account that even with very high-quality welding, height differences are possible. In order to manually get rid of such a defect, a special substrate is attached to the frame using glue with the filling effect. It is best to use plywood with a thickness of 1 cm as the material for the substrate. It also needs to be additionally fixed with self-tapping screws.
When attaching wooden steps to a metal staircase, it is recommended that they protrude slightly beyond the metal base, this approach will give more aesthetics to the structure.