How secure are these stairs (now with photos)?

[sam8364]

Hi,

My brother-in-law and his wife have just moved into a house with a classic 80s open staircase. They hate it and I have been tasked with boxing it in and making it look like a conventional staircase on as small a budget as possible.

I have added plywood risers and was just going about making some stringers when my mind turned to considering the additional weight I was adding to the staircase.

Having pondered for a while I thought I best check and see what the existing staircase was secured to at the first floor level.

So I lifted in the floorboards and found what you can see in the photos. The existing stringer seems fairly securely bolted to a piece of 2x4. The piece of 2x4 runs between two joists. However, it does not seems to be secured to the joist in anyway that I can see. As such it just seems to be a case of being wedged between the joists.

On the positive side I have stood at the top of the stairs, rocked from side to side and jumped up and down (only a small jump) and there is little or no movement to this anchor point.

I have included a photo showing the existing stringer passing through the ground floor ceiling. It would appear that is no regular movement at present as it would have damaged the plaster on the ceiling.

The new stringer on the opend side will rest on the ground at the bottom and be secured to each tread so the weight will be well distributed. The stringer that goes against the wall will actually be a fake cut to fit around the stairs and will be secured to the treads as well (it can also be secured to the wall with a little effort.

To address the quality of the exisiting first floor fixings I propose just to put a couple of screws through each joist into the 2x4 to anchor this to the joists. Do you think this is sufficient?

Any thoughts?

Sam

Original Stringer passing through ceiling

• sam8364
• 20 Jan 2011
• 2

Turn your head 90 degrees to left (the white bit is the ceiling)

Stairs - side view

• sam8364
• 20 Jan 2011
• 2

How the stairs are anchored

• sam8364
• 20 Jan 2011
• 2

This shows the fixings are first floor level.

 

[ladylola]

I would have thought that the trimmer would be nailed in place at the very least, if it doesn't move then I would say there must be something in there. Rather than putting screws in to add further strenght I'd use angle brackets which would give a much better job here- http://www.screwfix.com/prods/14177...races-Zinc-Plated-103-x-103-x-22mm-Pack-of-10

In all honesty you are probably worrying unduly , but then a balt and braces approach never hurt anyone.

 

[sam8364]

I think I should more correctly say that there is little movement when applying pressure on the stairs - however, the 'trimmer' can be moved side to sidea small amount with heavy pressure from the hand. It may well be nailed with just a single nail which would allow some rotational movement.

In all honesty screws would be eaiser to get into place than the brackets but they are worth a thought.

My concern was just the additional weight from the woodwork added to the stairs plus my brother-in-law is not a small chap (forearms like my legs)

 

[sam8364]

Any further thoughts then chaps before I stick a couple of extra screws in it and hope for the best?

 

[big-all]

as an aside you need more spindles to reduce the gaps to below 100mm [suggest you aim at 95mm]

 

[sam8364]

I know about the spindles not meeting building regs but it those poses problem.

Firstly the horribly designed stairs are built with one spindle actually built into the centre of each tread (rather than sitting on the stringer) - as such it is essentially impossible to add more spindles without a new stair case altogether.

However, I am not building a new stairs case so I don't think I have to worry about meeting regs. The house is newly purchased and it passed a survey with this staircase in place.

From a safety point of view - there are no children in the house and I have already told the owners (my in-laws) that they would need to think about boxing the spindles in to address this problem if and when the safety issue becomes relevant.

Anyway..... got to finish the job tomorrow - any final thoughts on improving the security to the first floor - or whether i need to worry?