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adnan_tahir47

Alternative staircase options?

Addy T
6 years ago
The attached is what my model
Home come comes with for the staircase. However I’m not crazy about the fact that you have to walk around the post to walk towards the Kitchen. I also don’t like the way it turns out like that. Walking up those stairs it also felt a little right but I was told these are standard. They didn’t feel that way. Any alternative options here? Builder says there is not enough space for the stairs to come straight down we would have to close off the entrance on the right to the dining room which I don’t want either. Floor plan attached too. Help!!

Comments (35)

  • Najeebah
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    How some people dream up designs...

    It seems what you've sent is the first floor plan, not ground. You can attach that as a comment

  • PRO
    JAN MOYER
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    You will not be able to change the stair on a spec build. Stairs are a step/height/depth to code combination. He gave you the option you dislike.......a result of that code.

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  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    Attached is the first floor plan
  • just_janni
    6 years ago

    Stairs take up space but don't help square footage.

    Builders are tightening up stairs on model home plans to make them as narrow and as steep as possible to reduce the amount of floor space they take.

    The kick at the end is necessary based on what you have shown and reworking them is going to require more changes than you're going to be allowed to make.

  • RaiKai
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Is your builder one who is amenable to changes? Some production builders are, some are not. Some are and won’t charge or won’t charge much, some are but will expect to be paid the equivalent of a few mortgage payments.

    Either way, if they are amenable to change, this is a pick a poison deal. Either you have a straight shot and block off dining room entrance from foyer, or you do an “L” or angled “L” like you currently have and have to walk around to get to (kitchen? great room?). I don’t know what else can really fit stairwise in that small space without some significant structural changes on both floors (ie double winders, etc). That may not (is likely not) going to be doable depending on your builder or where you are at in your build and space for the wind has to come from somewhere - other rooms - so you are back in a pick your poison situation.

    You chose a plan where the stairs are a prominent feature (ie rather than tucked away) so they are going to be visible or in some fashion “taking up visual and physical space” in your foyer. I can’t speak to the steepness - all depends on code where you are and your builders standards - this one may just follow the minimums for the applicable code in your jurisdiction for this particular model to get more floor space rather than consider what is more comfortable for use. I toured a lot of parade homes before we chose our builder and plan and while there were builders who clearly built as standard wider, longer stairs (nicer to climb) some, at least in some models) made staircases as tight as they could resulting in steeper, narrower - but still to code - stairways.

  • PRO
    Mark Bischak, Architect
    6 years ago

    Don't buy the house.

  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    6 years ago

    Run away .

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @Rai Kai the builder is using a stairs company and they are supposed to sit with us tomorrow to go through options if any. Right now the house has been framed. That’s where we are. Is it a possibility to start the stairs in front of a bedroom and come down at an angle and then then down? Something like this?
  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @Mark as an architect why do you say that? I’m already in contract and the house is beautiful in all other aspects. I just never got over the staircase and assumed we could change it if ever needed
  • cpartist
    6 years ago

    I'm guessing the only thing the builder will allow you to change are the style of the balusters and newel post and what color stain or paint. Otherwise to change that staircase would be a major redesign of much of the house

  • Najeebah
    6 years ago

    There's a change in floor level next to the crazy staircase??

  • User
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Get out of the contract.

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @Najeebah No there isn’t.
  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Stairs are math and math is indifferent to your tastes. Math is not subjective; it treats everyone equally no matter their skin color or wealth. Substantial stair alterations happen in an air conditioned office before the teeth of a backhoe has ever kissed topsoil. You may have a little tweak or abandon the contract, but now, at framing, there is nothing in between.

  • lyfia
    6 years ago

    I can't tell the dimensions and don't know the height of the ceiling, what it looks like in the basement, and how much area you have to work with, but I think if all those pieces aligned it would be possible to do what the picture you show depict, but you'd likely need to move the stairs to the other side and the entry into the room beyond the foyer to be on the opposite side. Not sure centered would still work.


  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    We have 9 ft ceilings.
  • AnnKH
    6 years ago

    Did you see the model home before you committed to this house? Were you OK with the stairs at that time?

    From what little we can see of the plans, I see a couple of other things you can probably change, namely the double doors at the entry, and the double doors to what I presume is the master bedroom upstairs.

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    We saw another home the same model as ours before we signed and the builder told us the stairs would be slightly wider in our model than what we were seeing and also gave us the option of a curved stair case instead of the way it is shown.
  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    So does anyone have any other ideas I should throw at the stairs vendor when we meet? Besides getting out of the contract?
  • Najeebah
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    "...the builder told us the stairs would be slightly wider in our model than what we were seeing"
    are they?

    "and also gave us the option of a curved stair case instead of the way it is shown."
    what was decided upon?

    "does anyone have any other ideas"
    Physically, it's possible to demolish the staircase and rebuild it, narrowing the dining room entrance and starting straight along the wall, with two turns making a u-shaped staircase. Physically, anything is possible. Practically, feasibly, it is not at all.
    There's a lot more to consider than shifting on paper. I hope you don't plan on living here for a long time.

  • emilyam819
    6 years ago

    Ask the stair guy if the stairs would fit if they just came straight down. That’s probably your only option.

  • PRO
    Michael Design
    6 years ago

    It's a difficult problem and one that is all too common in spec housing.


    Here's not a great solution but a variant that may be less problematic than what is there now.

  • houses14
    6 years ago

    Nice Michael KD !

    I will keep you in mind when need to add more space to my less than 2 years old built home.

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @Michael Thank you for this I’ll look to see if they can try it
  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    So Michael you extended the wall on the right as well correct?
  • housegal200
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Sounds as if you're already committed to the house even if otherwise this might be a dealbreaker. Here's what I've learned over a long time: things that seem wrong and have to be fixed often don't matter nearly as much if all other basics a great--location, size of house, light, yard, etc. If these major "givens" are really great as you say, then move in and see how the stairs feel day to day. It may not be that big a deal once you're in the place.

    I once had what seemed like a dangerous stairway ledge that I was afraid my future kids would kill themselves on. Before any of them were born!!!! I called a carpenter to come over give an estimate about moving all the railings a foot over to eliminate the ledge. He thought I was nuts. Guess what? I was. Instead we put some attractive objects on that ledge and trained the kiddies about stairway safety on any stairs. As far as I know they never walked along that ledge.

    Many of my postings are about "making do" alternatives to rebuilding, reconfiguring, moving fixtures, etc. I'm not one of the pros on here, so I rarelysuggest moving windows, doorways, stairs. (One of my default answers is "get a smaller TV" when people are considering all kinds of expensive carpentry to accommodate a humongous TV.) I like to suggest common sense ways to live with an awkward feature by changing some other element first or living with it so that you come up with your own alternatives. Move in, see how it goes, ask friends who come to the house if they can think of simple ways to deal with your awkward feature. Every house has them. If there are too many, then don't buy . But if the house has otherwise great features, then live with its imperfections.

  • PRO
    Mark Bischak, Architect
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    "@Mark as an architect why do you say that?"

    Stairs are a potential hazard at any age*. Making one or more of the treads or risers different from the rest increases the hazard. I have had clients request at least one landing in a flight of stairs so if they do fall they are not falling the full length of the stair. See if whoever designed the house can come up with a safer solution without compromising the design of the home.

    *SOURCE: bit.ly/2yNBGax American Journal of Emergency Medicine, online September 20, 2017.

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    @michaelkilpatrickdesign I checked that other wall the 2'4" return wall, it's actually a loadbearing wall and wouldn't be able to be removed, would that interfere with the design you provided?

  • lyfia
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Adnan - how wide is the foyer and how long, is the upstairs mirrored from the picture you posted above as to me the location of the stairs in the first floor and the 2nd floor don't line up? Do you have a basement? Can the stair location move in the basement?

    What is straight ahead from the foyer when walking in the front doors?

  • PRO
    Michael Design
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Probably. I would look at flipping the flush 2-2x10 with the 2'4" section of load bearing wall. I'd guess that there is a beam below to handle what is there now. But this should be confirmed.

  • millworkman
    6 years ago

    You may want to ask the builder what these modifications will cost (hold onto your hat), a developer/tract home builder generally clips you pretty good for changing ANYTHING, and they usually are pretty firm in what they will not change as well. You start asking to move load bearing wall and you will find out pretty quick teh answer will be no, especially since the house is framed. That's just the nature of this type builder. The time for making these types of changes had long since passed.

  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @lyfia
    how wide is the foyer and how long

    It is 10 ft wide and looks like 15 ft long. The layout is attached above.

    is the upstairs mirrored from the picture you posted above as to me the location of the stairs in the first floor and the 2nd floor don't line up?

    The initial picture was from the model layout and the 2nd picture is from our plan. Our staircase is coming out of the right side instead of the left.

    Do you have a basement?

    Yes we do.

    Can the stair location move in the basement?

    I’m not sure if it can.

    What is straight ahead from the foyer when walking in the front doors?

    The breakfast area is straight ahead or what you would consider part of the larger kitchen.
  • Addy T
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    @millworkman I’ll ask him but we made some other changes recently. It’s not really a new thing I’ve been saying I didn’t like it much from the start. He told me he was making the stairs wider and that the other option was curving the stairs but that was it. I essentially just gave up but now that the house is framed and I toured another house like our model I was thinking I need to give it another shot to make sure I’ve explored all options. He’s a nice man and we have been patient. I think he’ll work with us considering this is going to be costing us so much as is. Any suggestions on what else can be done? Another style? Without moving too much around?
  • millworkman
    6 years ago

    "It’s not really a new thing I’ve been saying I didn’t like it much from the start"


    But the framing is completed. But at the end of the day nothing a lot of money cannot change. But as Joe alluded to math is math, you are severly limited at this point and that is why you have not been given many solid ideas.