5.

0 Stair, lifts and escalators

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Stair
 Stair is mechanical structure
having series of steps suitably
arranged for the purpose of
connecting different levels in the
building.
 It is made of various materials,
such as; timber, stone, brick,
steel concrete etc.
 The function of stair is to provide
a suitable means for the
movement of people from one
floor to another and also a way
for escape in case of fire and
other emergency.

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 Elements of stair
• Stairwell/staircase: The space in
which the stairs and landings are
housed.
• Tread: The upper surface of a step
on which the foot is placed.
• Riser : The vertical member
between two consecutive tread.
• Step : Riser + Tread
• Nosing : The exposed
edge of the tread.
• Going : The horizontal
distance between two
consecutive risers.
• Rise : The vertical height
between consecutive tread.`

 Flight : A series of steps with out a landing.

 Newel-post: A post forming the juncture of flights of stair with landing or carrying the
lower end of strings.
 Strings : The member receiving the ends of steps or providing support for the
steps. Strings are usually provided one at the outside and other adjacent to the wall.
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 Elements of stair

• Landing : A platform or resting place provided between two flights. It may be half, quarter
or full depending on the span.
• Scotia : Molding provided under nosing to beautify the elevation of the step.
• Winders : Tapering steps, which are provided for changing the direction of a stair.
• Soffit : Under-surface of a stair.
• Line of nosing: Imaginary line touching the nosing of each step.
• Slope or pitch: Angle between horizontal line and the line of nosing.
• Hand rail : Member of stair at the top of baluster and acts as the support of hand of
passerby.
• Baluster : Vertical member that supports handrail.
• Balustrade : Frame consisting of balusters and acts as fence or guard to the users of stair.
• Head room : Clear vertical distance between the tread of a step and soffit of flight or ceiling
of a landing immediately above.
• Spandrel : Triangular framing under the outside string of an open string stair.

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 Typical stair

Handrail

Baluster Landing
Tread

wall
Newel post

Rise

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 Ideal requirements of stair
• Location
– easily accessible and well ventilated.
– For residential building, it should be centrally located.
– For public building, this should be near to the entrance.
– For apartment building, stair should be one in the central
location and other by the side of the building for easy escape
in case of emergency.

• Width of stair
– Wide enough to carry the users with out much crowd or
inconvenience.
– Generally width for public and residential building is -150 cm
& 100 cm respectively.

• Length of flight
– Maximum & minimum numbers of steps in a flight be 12 & 3
respectively.
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 Ideal requirements of stair
• Slope of stair
– It should be just enough to be comfortable to the users.
In general, it is taken between 25º-40º.

• Head room
– Clear space between tread and the soffit of the stair
above may be more than 7ft. or 2.10 m.

• Material - should be strong & safe.

• Landing-More than or equal to the width of the flight.

• Winders-These arethe tapering steps to change the

direction & avoided as far as possible. 8
 Ideal requirements of stair
• Step proportions

T + 2R = 60-64 cm
T * R = 400-450 cm2
T + R = 40-45 cm

• Standard values

• For residential building: T = 22-27 cm, R = 15-17 cm

• For public building: T = 25-30 cm, R = 10-15 cm

• Usual sizes of steps: (RxT)

• For public buildings ranges from 10x30 cm to 15x25 cm

• For residential building ranges from15x27 to 17x22cm.

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 Dimension for Stair (IS Code)

Types of bldg. Riser (mm) Tread (mm) Slope Unobstructed width

of stair

Min. Opt. Max. Min. Opt. Max Opt. Max Min. (mm)

Residential 100 175 190 225 250 350 350 400 800

Semi-public 100 165 190 250 275 350 310 380 1000
(Factory, office,
school, shop)
Public 100 150 280 280 300 350 270 330 1000
(cinema, theatre, 1200 for hospitals
stadium,
hospitals)

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Types of staircase
• Straight stairs
– Steps in one direction only, may have one or more flight, access to
porch etc.
• Quarter-turned
– L-shaped stair having landing at the corner.
• Doglegged
– Two straight flights running in opposite direction, no space between
flights.
• Open well (open newel)
– Opening is left between two flights of doglegged stair.

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 Types of staircase
• Geometrical
– Similar to open well, but the space left between flights
is curved.
• Circular
– Stair takes the shape of segment of circle.
• Bifurcated
– Wide common flight is bifurcated to two flights with
quarter turned landing.
• Spiral
– All steps are radiated from a common newel post.
• Helical
– Spiral stair having well or open space in the middle.
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Open well stair

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Doglegged stair

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Quarter turned

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Straight stair

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Geometrical stair

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Circular stair

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Bifurcated stair

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Spiral stair

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Helical

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 Dog-legged stair Open-well stair
Straight stair

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 Types of staircase

Circular stair Spiral stair

Bifurcated stair

Geometrical stair

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 Types of staircase

Helical stair

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 Design of stair

• It is the calculation of number of steps with the

presumption of comfortable access to desired floor.
• The size of the steps should be assumed in such a
way that the stair can be accommodated in the
given space with highest level of comfort.
• Stair is the center of focus in building & attention
should be given for comfort and aesthetic beauty.

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 Procedure of design of Stair

• Given the level difference between two floors (ceiling

height plus thickness of floor slab).
• Assume the types of building and stair and accordingly
the size of riser(R).
• Find the number of risers by NR = (level difference/size of
riser).
• Find the number of treads by NT = (NR - 1).
• Assume the size of tread (T).
• Assume the width of the stair.
• Consider the size of landing (L) equal to width of stair.
• Assume the entry space (E), generally equal to landing).
• Find the total length of stair = (NT * T) + L +E.
• Adjust the size of riser and tread if required.
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 Design Example
• Design a dog-legged staircase for a residential
building in a stairwell of 4.5 mX3.0m and
vertical span between two floors is 3.0m.
Assume the necessary data. Draw a neat
sketch to support your design.

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• Floor height=3000mm (Given)
• Assuming the ht of rise=150mm
• No of rise= floor ht/ht of rise=3000/150=20 nos.
• No of flights in dog-legged stair= 2 nos.
• No of riser in a flight= total nos. of rise/2=10 nos.
• Nos. of tread in a flight= nos. of rise in a flight-1=9
nos.

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• Width of tread= 600-2R=600-2X150=300mm
• Width of stair=space given as
stairwell/2=3000/2=1500mm
• Width of landing=width of stair=1500mm
• Length of stair = tread X nos. of tread in a flight+
width of landing = (300X9+1500) mm
• = 4200mm, this eventually fits in the space
(4.5m)

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• Design conclusion could be illustrated as:
• As desired it is a dog-legged staircase
• Width of the staircase is 1.5 m
• Width of landing is 1.5 m
• Rise=150mm and total nos. of R=10X2=20
• Tread=300mm and total nos. of T=9X2=18
• Total length of staircase is 4.2 m.

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Ladder

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 A ladder is a vertical or inclined set or steps.
There are two types:
1. Rigid ladders that can be leaned against a vertical
surface such as a wall
2. Rope ladders that are hung from the top.

 The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers

(US) or stiles (UK).
 Rigid ladders are usually portable, but some types are
permanently fixed to buildings.
 They are commonly made of metal, wood, or fibre glass, but
they have been known to be made of tough plastic.
 For safety, a rigid ladder should be leaned at an angle of
about fifteen degrees to the vertical

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 Rope ladders are used where
storage space is extremely limited,
weight must be kept to a minimum,
or in instances where the object to
be climbed is too curved to use a
rigid ladder.
 They may have rigid or flexible
rungs.
 Climbing a rope ladder requires
more skill than climbing a rigid
ladder, because the ladder tends to
swing like a pendulum.

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 Ramp
• An inclined surface
or roadway
connecting different
levels.

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(1) Ramps for pedestrians :

(a) General :- The provisions applicable to stairway shall generally

apply to ramps. A ramp in a hospital shall not be less than 2.25 m
wide in addition to satisfy the fire fighting requirements.
(b) Slope :- A ramp shall have slope of not more than 1:10. it shall be
of non- slippery material.
(c) Handrail :- A handrail shall be provided on both the sides of the
ramp.

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(2) Ramps for
handicapped people :-
The provision of the ramp
with a handrail to every
public building on ground
floor only as compulsory
for handicapped people.

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(3) Ramp for basement or storied parking :-
For parking spaces in a basement ramps of
adequate and such ramps may be permitted in the
side and rear marginal open spaces after leaving
sufficient space for movement of firefighting
equipments.

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• An elevator (lift in British Lift or elevators
English) is a type of
vertical transport equipment
that efficiently moves people
or goods between floors
(levels, decks) of a building.
• Elevators are generally
powered by electric motors
that either drive traction
cables or counterweight
systems like a hoist, or pump
hydraulic fluid to raise a
cylindrical piston like a jack. 40
 The Basic Design
• The basic design is a
compartment that is somehow
lifted
• Two Types of Elevators:
– Traction type
– Hydraulic type
 The Hydraulic Elevator
• Hydraulic elevators are
elevators which are
powered by a piston that
travels inside a cylinder.
• An electric motor pumps
hydraulic oil into the
cylinder to move the
piston.
• The piston smoothly lifts
the elevator cab.
• Electrical valves control
the release of the oil for
a gentle descent.
• Advantages:
– No need for reinforcement.
The cylinder that lifts the
elevator cab is supported
by the ground underneath.
– Are usually cheaper
than traction units.
– If the line breaks, the
elevator will fall no faster
than oil can escape.
• Disadvantages
– Must Have Enough Room
– Energy Inefficiency
 Traction Elevators

• Traction elevators are the most

common type of elevators.
• Elevator cars are pulled up by
means of rolling steel ropes over a
deeply grooved pulley, commonly
called a sheave in the industry.
• The weight of the car is balanced by
a counterweight.
• Sometimes two elevators are built
so that their cars always move
synchronously in opposite
directions, and are each other's
counterweight.
Escalators

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 Escalator
 An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor
transport device for carrying people between floors of a
building.
 The device consists of a motor-driven chain of
individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks,
allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.
 Escalators are used around the world to move
pedestrian traffic in places where elevators would be
impractical.
 Principal areas of usage include department stores,
shopping malls, airports, convention centers, hotels,
stadiums and public buildings.
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 Benefits of Escalator
 They have the capacity to move large numbers of
people, and they can be placed in the same
physical space as one might install a staircase.
 They have no waiting interval (except during very
heavy traffic), they can be used to guide people
toward main exits or special exhibits, and they
may be weatherproofed for outdoor use.
 It has also been observed that a non-functioning
escalator simply becomes a normal staircase,
whereas many other conveyances become useless
when they break down.

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 Design, components, and operation
• Escalators, like moving walkways, are powered by
constant-speed alternating current motors and
move at approximately 1–2 feet (0.30–0.61 m) per
second.
• The typical angle of inclination of an escalator to
the horizontal floor level is 30 degrees with a
standard rise up to about 60 feet (18 m).
• Modern escalators have single-piece aluminum or
steel steps that move on a system of tracks in a
continuous loop.
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 Escalators have three typical configuration options:
parallel (up and down escalators "side by side or
separated by a distance", seen often in metro
stations and multilevel motion picture theaters),
 crisscross (minimizes structural space
requirements by "stacking" escalators that go in
one direction, frequently used in department
stores or shopping centers), and
 multiple parallel (two or more escalators together
that travel in one direction next to one or two
escalators in the same bank that travel in the other
direction).
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"Crisscross" layout

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"Multiple parallel" layout

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Parallel layout

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Home Work:
1.Types of Staircase (Plan &
Section)
2. Elements of Stair

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