Building a step up to a door

[Keitai]

Need to make a small semi permanent step up to the front door. Bolted to wall but easily taken out. it's gonna be 2feet six inches deep (coming out from door) 36cm high (just under sill) and six feet (183cm) wide. With one step (width of door).

I figured use 2x6 to build a frame then put either decking boards or pine on top and step. ?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Why does it need to be bolted to the wall?

 

[Charlie George]

Need to make a small semi permanent step up to the front door. Bolted to wall but easily taken out. it's gonna be 2feet six inches deep (coming out from door) 36cm high (just under sill) and six feet (183cm) wide. With one step (width of door).

I figured use 2x6 to build a frame then put either decking boards or pine on top and step. ? View attachment 243151

Your idea is perfect if you want the old man dead or injured, and just to make sure you can always call round and throw a bucket of water on it each morning in winter.

 

[Keitai]

Why does it need to be bolted to the wall?

To stop it moving

 

[JobAndKnock]

You will need to have handrails on it and it will need a substantial base, such as a concrete pad to sit on. At least that will give you something to bolt it down onto to prevent movement. Without such a base I wiuldn't touch the job because if it mives in service, and someone gets injured, you carry fully reponsibility

 

[bernardgreen]

I would create a small landing to separate the step over the door frame from the first step down the stairs.

 

[foxhole]

You could make up your steps , fit brackets to rear and they would allow you to anchor the steps by dropping over bolts fitted below the threshold.Easy to remove by lifting off.
http://www.nvmgroup.co.uk/ELB033_Top_Hat_Bracket_suit_Flange_Mounted_Motor

 

[Keitai]

You will need to have handrails on it and it will need a substantial base, such as a concrete pad to sit on. At least that will give you something to bolt it down onto to prevent movement. Without such a base I wiuldn't touch the job because if it mives in service, and someone gets injured, you carry fully reponsibility

It's on hardcore. I thought bolting steps to wall around door and side wall then putting one rail into side wall on right side would be safe enough?

 

[Keitai]

I would create a small landing to separate the step over the door frame from the first step down the stairs.

You step over onto 2 feet 6 inch landing (6 feet wide) then onto one step (door width then down. Handrail bolted to wall on right. Theres no wall on left

 

[HERTS P&D]

This is out of your league, tell the customer to get a Pro in.

The last thing you want is the customer falling over due to your bad workmanship!

Andy

 

[JobAndKnock]

It's on hardcore. I thought bolting steps to wall around door and side wall then putting one rail into side wall on right side would be safe enough?

Hard-core is decidedly iffy as a base. I think you need to have something at ground level to anchor the steps - anchoring into the wall as you have proposed is a weak way to fix the item due to the potential for fastener pull out

I think you need to have it set up so that the top "step" is more like a landing, is deep enough (at least 600mm, preferably 900mm) and us at the exact same height as the threshold. This is so you step up without any risk of a trip and have a "rest point" before descending to garden level

There is a drop to the right side of the current steps so TWO hand rails are an absolute must. Part of the reason you need two handrails is because the customer is potentially elderly and likely as not is mobility impaired, or will become so over time especially if they have arthritis

Have you calculated the going on the stairs to ensure that you meet the minimum legal requirements (arguably these are notifiable works, not sure) and furthermore to ensure that your client can actually manage the steps? (Older people often need easier going)

Have you considered durability and maintenance? Steps can become very slippery when in an exposed position. You may need to consider nonslip coatings for the treads

Do you have both PL and PI insurance to cover you in the event that the client has an accident? (Essential)

 

[HERTS P&D]

Do you have both PL and PI insurance to cover you in the event that the client has an accident? (Essential)

Go on JK have a guess, I'm saying No!

Andy

 

[JobAndKnock]

Andy, this is now proper construction work with mandatory safety standards. It worries me when someone is dealing with the potentially elderly/mobility impaired yet doesn't understand the need for two handrails. If the job was for my dad and he subsequently had a fall, and I then discovered that things hadn't been done right it would either be court time, or claret time! Know what I mean? I doubt that I'm alone in feeling this

 

[Keitai]

Hard-core is decidedly iffy. I think you need to have something at ground level to anchor the steps - anchoring into the wall as you have proposed is a weak way to fix the item due to the potential for fastener pull out

I think you need to have it set up so that the top "step" is more like a landing, is deep enough (at least 600mm, preferably 900mm) and us at the exact same height as the threshold. This is so you step up without any risk of a trip and have a "rest point" before descending to garden level

There is a drop to the right side of the current steps so TWO hand raild are an absolute must. Part of the reason you need two handrails is because the customer is elderly and likely as not is mobility impaired, or will become so over time especially if they have arthritis

Have you calculated the going on the stairs to ensure that you meet the minimum legal requirements (arguably these are notifiable works, not sure) and furthermore to ensure that your client can actually manage the steps? (The elderly often need easier going)

Have you considered durabilitu and maintenance? Steps can become very slippery when in an exposed position. You may need to consider nonslip coatings for the treads

Do you have both PL and PI insurance to cover you in the event that the client has an accident? (Essential)

You're not stepping onto a step but 2 feet 6 inch and six feet wide thing. I guess that's a landing then one step at end. Butts up to wall on right then to corner on left and may be moved in a year possibly put back

Surely thunderbolts into the wall will hold it?

Got PL not other one. They're in their sixties at a guess

 

[JobAndKnock]

What I am saying is that because of the potential trip hazard presented by the threshold in the door way your top step must, in effect, be a landing or "safe area" where a user can pause. Ideally this requires a width of 900mm (front to back), or in any case at least 600mm, and at the same height as the top of the threshold to minimise potential trip risk. This is called design, and it isn't just a case of blindly copying what is already there. If you don't have that "safe area" you are creating a trip risk for a user, and a trip at the top of a flight of steps isn't going to end well for them (or you as you could be found to be negligent)

I smashed myself up on a motor bike many years ago and for quite a while I had to wear a brace on one leg. That taught me first hand about mobility issues, and the need to design with due diligence for the disabled, elderly and mobility impaired. If you cannot understand this need turn the job down and walk away - if you get this one wrong you could end up injuring someone, or worse

BTW 6ft wide is too wide.. ideally you need to.be able to get 2 hands on handrails - look at your own stairs at home. Like as not they will be 900 to 1200mm wide

Thunderbolts are a one time fixing. They were never designed to be screwed in and taken out repeatedly (they can fail quite quickly in soft brick if repeatedly installed and removed). We normally only use them for vertical fixing (i.e. into horizontsl surfaces) due to problems there are calculating/testing pull out loads (when scaffies use them they are apparently required by law to test this as well as periodically retest them). Resin anchors are far better but can be problematic in a single skin of brick making a vertical fixing into a concrete block or pad much safer