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COVENTRY, CV6 4DD

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August 25, 2009

What is a modular kit stair and will it comply with the regulations?

The term modular refers to the module that a set of parts are made to, so that they can fit together to make a whole article. Meccano for instance is made of modular parts. With modular stairs it means that a set of standard parts are manufactured and stocked at the factory, so that they are readily available for assemble into various shapes and sizes of stairs. This is a cheaper an quicker alternative than to have a stair specifically manufactured for your dimensional requirements.

The clever design of modular straight flight stairs such as the Kompact, Genius or Reflex, gives these staircases the ability to be adjusted in both height and length, which in turn increases massively the range of applications that they can be used for. The beauty of this concept is that the supplier can pre-package the parts for typical stairs so that customers can quickly buy and receive a kit that will be capable of assemble into a suitable stair for their specific application.

The only downside of modular kit staircases are that you have work with the module, you cannot get them do everything, and you cannot ask for slight alterations to the design to suit you. That would be like asking Ford to supply a car with a central steering wheel just for you. The economies of supplying modular products do not work for one offs.

Fortunately the designs of Modular stairs cover an amazing range of applications, and you are likely to find one that works for, but you may need a little expert technical help in order to get it the right kit for you.

The answer to the constantly asked question " does it comply with the regulations?" is that it might. As an adjustable kit,a modular stair can be adjusted both into and out of the requirements of the Building Regulations part K, particularly the rise, going and pitch requirements. It all depends on your specific floor-to-floor height of your required stair ,and the sort of space you have available for the stair, whether or not you can make a Regulation compliant staircase. You usually can but you will probably need to ask help from a technical expert before you hang your hat on it. The end result is worth it, modern open plan modular staircase kits look superb, and offer massive savings over a similar bespoke stairs.

August 06, 2009

Are two storey height spiral staircases possible with a standard kit stair systems?

Mr Sergiew who wants to put a spiral stair up to his loft room, has come up with the idea of getting rid of his main stair, and putting a spiral staircase from the ground floor right up to the loft. He asks is this possible with the Klan spiral stair kit?

The answer is yes it is possible, but it is fraught with many problems.

First off are the Regulations which require different size spiral stairs for different functions. So a main house stair going up to the bedrooms on the first floor, will need to be approx 2000mm in diameter (depending on the constructional details of the spiral). While a spiral staircase serving only one room in a loft conversion can be reduced down to approx 1500mm in diameter. All this is still possible but the larger diameter staircase is outside of the range of any kit stair, so you will need to go up market to a made-to measure stair system.

The bigger problem is the rotational geometry. The treads of any spiral stair rotate at a fixed degree of rotation per tread, and this degree varies with the stair diameter. What this means is that the stepping on and off points at the top and bottom of a spiral stair have a fixed relationship with each other, and these may not suit the layout of your property. This situation is made worse when you add another floor onto your spiral stair, because you add another exit point to the problem. In practice this can mean that the layout of your hall requires that you step on the spiral staircase at a certain point, but the exit point on the first floor may end up not where you want to be, but pointing at a wall.

So two storey height spiral staircases are possible and look superb in a property, but you may need to go to a made-to-measure range which will cost more, and you definately need expert advice very early on in the project to check the feasibility of the staircase with your specific house layout and floor-to-floor heights.

The Staircase Doctor