Staircase contributes to the overall appearance of the building. Not only this, climbing the stairs will be a lot better healthwise
since it keeps you healthy by burning a few calories. Lifts in high rise building may be a necessity,
but use of the staircase is the best option during emergencies such as fire in
the building. Apart from enabling movement of men and material between thefloors, a staircase contributes a lot to the overall look of the building.
The materials that can be used for a staircase are countless. The use of these has become
versatile with many varieties of glass, cast iron and steel being available at
affordable prices. The immense possibilities of a staircase can be explored in
terms of location, material and styles. The stairs may be spiral, straight,
curved or in any other shape to suit the requirement and the circumstances and
to exhibit the talent and vision of the architect to bring in an elegant look
to the building or structure. The
heaviness of concrete staircase is now being replaced by the sleekness of
steel. Spiral staircases are used in
places where space is limited and straight run staircases are built where more
floor space is involved. Geometric staircases have a pleasant look, but they are very expensive and their width is not uniform. Stainless steel can be used for handrails to reduce the cost.
Balusters are small, light pillars used on the sides of the
steps for supporting the handrails made of cast iron, wood or aluminium. They
contribute to the look of the staircase in a building. Those who can afford can
use wood in the baluster and tread to give an aesthetic look.
Dimensions of the staircase are normally specified in the
building rules keeping in mind the various factors. The minimum width of a
stair has to be 90 cm, riser 15 to17.5 cm and tread 25 to 30 cm. for any house
and for the public buildings the riser must be six inches or 15 cm and the
tread one foot wide or 30 cm. If the
guidelines are observed it will be easy to move up and down the stairs.
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