marthaelena and others with open basement stairs
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15 years ago
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jodierd
15 years agodawn_t
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Basement Stairs in Kitchen!
Comments (4)Do you have a layout drawn up of the space? If so, post it...it's a lot easier to comment when you have a picture than with a verbal description. Even a layout of the empty space is helpful. See the "Read Me" thread for information on how to post pictures as well as how to draw up a layout. Here is a link that might be useful: New To Kitchens? Posting Pics? Read Me!...See MoreRemodel Help around Basement Stairs
Comments (11)Moving stairs would be expensive. I wouldn't convert the back of the house - adding the current "Family Room" to the Master Bedroom - to make a larger master suite: all light from the back of the house would be blocked off in the main living areas, and there's no way to get outside. I think that would impact resale value more than having a kitchen at the front entry (you see that all the time where I live, as people combine dining room w/kitchen because smaller homes and additions too expensive). Consider: (a) add existing kitchen to master suite (close up basement stairs entry - make the entry to it from the current office wall); (b) remove wall between office and 'family room' to make new large kitchen - which would not only enable light to come in from that side of the house into living areas, but nice access to the patio, bbq grill from kitchen, kids to run outside where you can see them from the kitchen....See MoreBasement Stairs and Humidity
Comments (14)Not sure if this changes any of the advice you’d give but given the track record and the commentary here about the choice of material / lack of quality of the workmanship, No change. This is a minor cosmetic issue. And not an unexpected one if you understand how wood behaves with wide swings in humidity levels and other finer points of bowing, crowning, twisting, etc. when he took a look at the crack, he said it was probably a humidity issue... I'm assuming humidity is a common issue in basements and that lots of people have basements without cracked stairs so... Yes, humidity is a common issue. Wood is dynamic; it responds to changing humidity levels. It expands under high humidity levels (spring/ summer) and contracts when the level decreases (during the heating season). (Note the slight gap between the treads & risers--evidence of contraction during the heating season.) Decades of this cycle of expansion & contraction with the wood wiggling & pulling against the fasteners during the wet season and then contracting during the dry is how stairs get 'rickety'. In a basement, more so because the swing is wider--the basement being more humid than the rest of the house during the winter. how do I make sure contractor is addressing the root cause of this problem versus a symptom? I didn't see 'climate control' on the list of work performed. So that is outside the scope of his responsibility. Do you have a whole house humidification/ dehumidification system? Do you run a portable dehumidifier in the summer? Do you add humidity during the winter? resilient new stairs was the #1 requirement of this project What did you specify in the contract? What do you mean by 'resilient stairs'? Rubber, vinyl, cork?? In all probability what happened is that that tread has a slight crown and split under normal foot traffic. Crowning is more of a problem with solid wide boards like you have (vs a tread comprised of more narrow edge-glued boards.) More info here: https://www.stair-treads.com/faq/edge-glued-stair-treads.html The advise given above--to apply some stain to the crack now--is good advice. When the humidity increases, the split will close up. Alternately, you could replace the tread w/ no guarantee that it won't split. Knowing that the stain & finish on the new tread might not match the existing and that you will need to touch up paint. The paint job is a whole other issue. Obvious lack of prep; I would have specified new skirt boards...but this goes back to the original contract and what was specified. dusting the area so we could continue to use the laundry room that wasn’t in scope for renovation) weren’t held to — laundry room wasn’t tarped off and was unusable for a chunk of the renovation One of the facts of life is that no one cares about your stuff like you care about it. Water under the bridge now...but why didn't you call them out on it then? Or remove the machines? Or tarp it off yourself? Or drape some plastic over the machines? Block off HVAC vents? Personally, I would have taken care of it myself because I wouldn't want to pay skilled labor rates for simple housekeeping. Nor haul dirty laundry off to a laundromat just because the laundry room was too dusty......See MoreBasement stairs and storage access puzzle
Comments (44)We had the stair designer come by today, and it was a great meeting. I think the last time he was here we caught him on a bad day but this time he was really helpful, taking the time to answer all my questions and walk me through the design logic behind various aspects of his drawing. It helped that I came prepared with a better understanding of stair ergonomics and code thanks to those who have taken the time to share their thoughts with me on this thread. The end result is that we have made some minor tweaks and improvements to the plan, I'm getting what I want out of it, and I understand exactly why each of the various choices have been made. Key highlights: 1. We are doing away with the top 20" landing which @res2architect and @3onthetree objected to, and converting upper stairs to four equal 11.25" deep steps. The stairs will begin right when you open the door from the kitchen, but that door opens in to the kitchen (i.e. does not swing over the stairs) and in any case we plan to remove it in a few years once we're done the toddler phase and just have an open doorway there. I thought the point about the odd stride pattern from kitchen to backyard was an important one, especially as that's where we'll come in and out of the backyard, often carrying dishes and food to bbq and so on. The upper portion of the stairs are also the piece that guests will use the most so it will be good to minimize the quirks there. 2. We are going to have the stair railings built to be removable -- @Sandra Guistwhite sort of what you were suggesting (thanks, that was thoughtful). Not hinged or anything, just something that can be unbolted and taken off if we ever need to bring a sofa through or replace the washing machine, or if we really need much wider access to the under-stairs area for a project. 3. We are going to place the bottom newel post on the second step up from the lower landing and begin the handrail there to allow slightly better access to the under-stair area. This (and only this) part of the design is in fact a deviation from contemporary Ontario building code but since we don't have an inspector coming in we can get away with it, and I can see from some googling that it's a pretty common design that doesn't seem particularly risky. In fact, I only realized today this is how our other main staircase is designed, and my parent's staircase is the same, so I presume it was the norm in a previous era. At the end of it all, I think we'll have stairs which would alarm many Houzzers who are accustomed to a different type of housing stock and set of codes, but which will be relatively safe and work well for our needs and our quirky space. The stair designer told me today that he's done several sets of stairs in our immediate neighbourhood and designs like this are very often necessary. It turns out lots of people are putting in winder steps in high end contemporary renovations around here out of necessity. I do want to thank everyone who took the time to think about this and share their comments, even if the main thrust of many of them was "wow, you are/ your house is insane". I'll be sure to come back and post a photo when it's all done so you can see how it's turned out, even if it does end up horrifying some of you. I have a thick skin and can take it, and I do feel confident we're proceeding with the plan that's right for us and our house. I'm excited to see this come together!...See Moremarthaelena
15 years agoSome more pictures, let me know if you want more.
The piece of carpet that you see by the stairway is not there, I mean, it was just someting temporary to avoid dust.
The flooring there is all ceramic and the one in the dining (background) room is hardwood
dawn_t
15 years agomarthaelena
15 years agoUser
15 years agoponydoc
15 years agoOurs are open, although they are open off the front foyer rather than the kitchen area... here they are going down....
marthaelena
15 years agoI scanned these pictures from our city magazine. This is a local ranch prairie style house with a walk out basement and I love it. It is more expensive to built because of the curb, it also takes a little bit more of space but it is worth it. I think they sell the curve wooden piece and steps premanufactured and you can find it online. Most likeli the have standar dimensions and your builder just need to coordinate the size to your space.
The metal pieces can be bought online (they are available in iron or aluminum) and if you need it I can give you the link. the metal pieces are inexpensive.Hope you like it.
User
15 years ago
worthy
15 years agoHere's a client's home from last year.
Three floors of clear-finish red oak stairs, rails and balusters are the central focus of this traditional home.
marthaelena
15 years agoneesie
15 years agomarthaelena
15 years ago
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