--- layout: post title: What does a Genius spiral stair fix to at the top. path: What does a Genius spiral stair fix to at the top. categories: section: post ---

I am amazed at how many times I get asked this question, I suppose it is not that obvious, a lot of people assume that the centre pole will go right up to the landing ceiling and fixed to the rafters above. The reality is that a spiral staircase like any other stair normally ends at floor level and all that projects above the floor is the balustrading, which is there to stop you falling back down the hole.

With Genius spiral staircases and in fact all other kit spiral staircases that I can think of there are really only two main fixing points to the structure of the building. The first is a circular base plate on the bottom of the centre pole that is bolted to the floor. Then the top of the pole is secured to the vertical face of the ceiling aperture via the top tread that normally being a landing triangle. The landing triangle is bolted to the centre pole at one point of the triangle, the the opposite side of the triangle is butted up to the edge of the floor and secured with angle brackets underneath to the timber trimming or trimmer joists surrounding the opening. If it is a concrete floor slab or even a wall you would use the same brackets but different fixings.

The two fixing positions described above are all that is needed to hold the centre pole rigid. All the treads are simply attached to the centre pole. If the spiral staircase has any walls surrounding it is also advisable to attach brackets between the wall and any tread that passes it. These are not a necessity but they do help prevent any slight lateral swaying movement that is always likely to occur on spiral stairs.

The Spiral Staircase Doctor