DBT154

BUILDING TECHNOLOGY II

LECTURE 4
STAIRCASE
By

Sr. Anas Zafirol Bin Abdullah Halim

MRISM
 Objectives
At the end of this session, students are able to
• Define stairs and list all of its component
• Explain related UBBL’s requirement
regarding the construction of staircases
• Classify different type of stairs
• Explain with the aid of sketches the
construction of various type of staircases
 Staircases
Definition:
• A building element / structure that connect
2 different level of floor for providing
access. It must be easy, satisfy and safe.
Staircases
 Functional requirements of
staircases
1. Strength & Stability
2. Type of building (Residential / Public
Building)
3. Design ( staircase opening, tread, and riser)
4. Protection from fire (Incombustible
materials)
5. Safety in use
• Strength & Stability
The requirements for strength and stability in supporting dead
and imposed loads for floors apply equally to stairs.
• Type of building (Residential / Public Building)
• Design ( staircase opening, tread, and riser)

• Protection from fire (Incombustible materials)

A stair should be constructed of materials that are capable of
maintaining strength and stability for period of time
sufficient for those in a building to escape outside.
• Safety in use
Concerned with the safety of users in
determining the rise, going and headroom
of stairs and the dimensions of handrails
and quarding.
 Staircases – Component
• Stairwell – the space in which the stairs and
landings are housed
 Staircases – Component
• Stairs – the actual means of ascension or
descension from one level to another
• Tread – the upper surface of a step on
which the foot is placed
• Nosing – the exposed edge of the tread
• Riser – the vertical member between 2
consecutive treads
Riser
Tread
Nosing

Riser
Tread
Nosing
 Staircases – Component
• Step – riser + tread
• Going – the horizontal distance between 2
consecutive risers
• Rise – the vertical height between 2
consecutive treads
 Step
Rise

Going
 Step
Rise

Going
 Staircases – Component
• Total rise – total height of a stairs
• Total run – horizontal distance covered by
the stairs
• Pitch line – a line connecting the nosings of
all treads in one flight
• Headroom clearance – the vertical distance
between pitch line and any surface above it
Headroom e
l in
clearance ch Total rise
P it

Total run
 Staircases – Component
• Flight – a series of steps without landing
 Staircases – Component
• Newel – post forming the junction of flight
of stairs with landings or carrying the lower
end of strings
• Strings – the members receiving the ends of
steps which are generally housed to the
string and secured by wedges
 Newel

Newel Newel
String
String
 Staircases – Component
• Handrail – protecting member usually
parallel to the string and spanning between
newels
• Baluster – the vertical infill between a
string and handrail
Handrail Handrail

Baluster Baluster
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
Part VI – Constructional Requirements
• By-Law 106 (1) – rise shall not be more
than 180mm and tread shall be not less than
255mm and the dimensions of rise and tread
of the staircase shall be uniform and
consistent throughout
 Min: 255mm

Max: 180mm
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 106 (2) – width of staircases – By-
Law 168 – Calculate using the 7th Schedule
of the UBBL (egress / fire escape)
• By-Law 106 (3) – the depths of landings
shall not be less than the width of the
staircases
x≥y
x

y
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 107 (1) – except for staircases of
less than 4 risers, all staircases shall be
provided with at least one handrail
• (2) – staircases exceeding 2225mm width
shall be provided with intermediate handrail
for each 2225mm of required width spaced
approximately equally
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 107 (3) – in building other than
residential buildings a handrail shall be so
provided on each side of the staircase when the
width of the staircase is 1100mm or more
• (4) – all handrails shall project not more than
100mm from the face of finished wall surface and
shall be located not less than 825mm and not more
than 900mm measured from the nosing of the
treads provided that handrails to landings shall not
be less than 900mm from the level of the landing
100mm max

825 - 900
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 108 (1) – for residential buildings,
a landing of not less than 1.80m in depth
shall be provided in staircases at vertical
intervals of not more than 4.25m. Other
buildings there shall be not more than
sixteen risers between each landing
• (2) – a flight must have at least 2 risers
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 109 (1) – spiral staircases may be
permitted as a secondary staircase in
buildings where the top most floor does not
exceed 12.2m in height (Subject to
provisions of Part VII and VIII)
• (2) – Winding staircase may be permitted
where they are not used as a required means
of egress
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 110 (1) – there shall be no
obstruction in any staircase
• (2) – there shall be no projection, other than
handrails in staircases at a level lower than
2.00m above any stair
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• By-Law 111 – All staircases shall be
properly lighted and ventilated according to
the requirement of the local authority
• By-Law 112 – In a shop, the flight of stairs
which has access direct from the street shall
be enclosed with walls in incombustible
material
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• BY-Law 113 (1) – Timber staircases may
be permitted for the following types of
buildings which are not more than three
storeys in height:
• Detached residential buildings
• Semi-detached residential buildings
• Terrace houses
 Staircases –
UBBL requirement
• In the upper floors of shophouses other than
from the ground floor to the first floor provided
that it is located within the protected area for its
full height
• Other similar types of buildings of limited fire
risk at the discretion of the local authority
• By-Law 113 (2) – all other staircases shall
have a fire resistance rating of not less than
2 hours
 Type of staircases
Types of Staircases (Plan types)
•Straight run
•Half turn (180 degree return)
•Quarter turn /L shaped (90 Degree)
•Spiral
 Straight Run Stairs
• Simplest form of stair arrangement
• Consists of one straight flight of stairs
linking two levels
• The width and the length of the landings
should be equal (max.120cm)
• Most economical staircase
Straight Run Stairs
 Straight run
with landing

Straight run
 Half turn/ 180 Degree Return
Stair
There are 2 types of Half turn stair
1.Open well with two flights; Space between
the lower and upper flights causes half space
landing to be longer
2.Dog leg: Two short flights with a half space
landing between them. Outer strings of two
flights lie in the same vertical plane.
 Half turn/ 180 Degree Return
Stair
• The most common arrangement of stairs.
• Advantage –They offer architectural
interest and they also have a landing space
which can be used as a resting point.
180 Degree Return Stair
Half space landing

Half turn stairs

 Quarter turn / L Shaped Stair
• L shaped stair may have either equal or
unequal flights.
• Good in compact planning
• The quarter turn sometime will be replaced
with winders for economic use of space
L Shaped Stair
Quarter space landing

Quarter turn stairs

 Tapered staircase
• Winder" or "curved" stairs refer to stairways that
make a turn without including an intermediate
landing or platform to provide a flat rectangular
turning space.
• To reduce the number of steps required in the rest
of the stair and to economies in space
• Usually use in domestic stairs
• Can be hazardous as they only offer little foothold
at the interior corner
• Not recommended for public buildings in the
means of escape stairs especially for the very
young and elders
Tapered stairs
Tapered staircase
 Spiral Staircase
• Have tread which turn and rise around a
central column.
• The most economical way to save space,
but difficult to use due to the sharp turns.
Very dangerous for the very young and
elderly.
• Usually use where the space is very limited
for access to an intermediate floor of one
room.
 Materials in staircases
Stairs can be made of :
•Timber
•Concrete –precast & cast-in situ
•Metal
 Concrete Staircase
• Can be cast in-situ, precast or combination of both
• Better fire resistant from timber staircase
• Common use in multi- storey building
• Can be formed as straight flight, quarter turn, half
turn or geometrical. But, the usual form is half-turn.
• The construction of the staircase depends on the
structural of the building and the convenience in
casting the stairs in situ or the use of reinforced
concrete support and precast steps.
 In-situ RC stair
• Variety of stair types and arrangements are
possible, which of having its own
appearance , characteristic and method of
construction.
• Common use as it is non-combustible,
stronger and hardwearing.
• Typical in-situ RC stairs are:
• Inclined slab stair
• Cranked slab stair
• String beam stair
• Cantilever stair
 Inclined slab stair
• Constructed when there are LB wall around
the stair.
• The landing is built into the walls as one way
span slab.
• The flight span from floor to landing and
landing to floor.
• Disadvantage –wasteful cutting of brick or
block to allow the flight built into the walls.
Inclined slab stair
 Cranked slab stair
• The stair is constructed as a cranked (bent)
slab spanning through landing, flight and
landing as one slab with no side supports.
• This type of construction only use when the
landings can not gain support each side of
stair.
• Disadvantage –more costly
Cranked slab stair
String and trimmer stair/String
beam stair
• The landing beams are supported by side
walls (LB) or the beams of the frame and in
turn support inclined beams that support the
flight.
• Disadvantages -cause untidy soffit or
underside of the stair.
• Best suited for to the use of precast concrete
steps and precast landing.
String and trimmer stair/String
beam stair
Cantilevered stair/cantilevered
spine wall
• Constructed to cantilever from the spine
wall, or can be partly cantilever from the
spine wall and supported by the enclosing
frame or walls.
Cantilevered stair/cantilevered
spine wall
 Open spiral concrete stairs
• Used mainly as accommodation stairs in the foyers of prestige
buildings such as theatres and hotels.
• Can be expensive to construct, being normally at least seven
times the cost of conventional stairs.
• The plan shape is generally based on a circle although it is
possible to design.
• Can be formed around a central large-diameter circular column
in a similar manner.
• Tension and compressive stresses are included in this form of
stairs way which will require reinforcement to both faces of the
slab.
• Formwork for spiral stairs consists of a central vertical core or
barrel to form the open stairs well to which the so fit and riser
boards are set out and fixed.
Open spiral concrete stairs
 Single Straight Flight
Stairway
• Simple in design and construction, can be unpopular
because of the plan space it occupies.
• The flight behaves as a simply supported slab planning
from landing and landing.
• The effective span or total horizontal going usually taken
as being from landing edge to edge by providing a down
stand edge beam to each landing.
• Edge beam are not provided the effective span would be
taken as overall of the landing.
• Resulting in a considerably bending moment and hence
more reinforcement.
Single Straight Flight
Stairway
Inclined Slab Stair With
Half-Space Landing
• Usually plan format for reinforcement concrete stair
giving a more compact paln layout and better circulation
than the single straight flight stairs.
• The haft space(180°)turn landing is usually introduced at
the mid-point of the rise giving equal flight spans.
• Reducing the effective span and hence the bending
moment considerably.
• Design the landing span crosswise into a load bearing
wall.
• Tension lap required at the top and button of each flight
to overcome the tension included by the tendency of the
internal angles of the junction.
Inclined Slab Stair With
Half-Space Landing
 Simple reinforced
Concrete Stairs

Formwork

Reinforcement
 Precast Concrete Stair
• Can be produced to most of the formats used
for in situ RC stair.
• Seldom used because of the majority using
cast in-situ method. Common use for aesthetic
reason.
• Typical precast stairs are:
• Precast concrete straight flight stairs
• Cranked slab precast concrete stairs
• Precast concrete open riser stairs
• Precast concrete spiral stairs
 Precast Concrete Stair
Advantages –
•Good quality control of finished product
•No formwork thus no storage required and save the
site space
•Stair can be installed at any time, thus the stair shaft
can be used for other purposes e.g. for lifting or
hoisting space
•Hoisting, positioning and fixing of stair can be
carried out by semi-skilled worker.
 Precast Concrete
Straight Flight Stairs
• Spanning between landing can have a simple
bearing or, by leaving projecting
reinforcement to be grouted into preformed
slots in the landings.
• Straight flight precast concrete stairs with a
simple bearing require only bottom
reinforcement to the slab and extra
reinforcement to strengthen the bearing or
nib.
• The bearing location is a rebate cast in the in-
situ floor slab or landing, which is filled with a
compressible material to form a flexible joint.
Precast Concrete
Straight
 CRANKED SLAB
PRECAST CONCRETE
•
STAIR
Usually formed as an open well stairway.
• The bearing for the pre-cast landings to the in-situ floor or to the
structural frame is usually in the form of a simple bearing
• The infill between the two adjacent flight , in an open well plan
arrangement at floor and intermediate landing levels.
• It must be remembered that when pre-cast concrete stair flight
are hoisted into position, different stresses may be included from
those which will be encountered in the fixed position.
• To overcome this usual ,provide definite lifting points in the
form of the projecting lugs or by utilizing any holes cast in to
received the balustrade.
•
 CRANKED SLAB
PRECAST CONCRETE
STAIR
 Precast Concrete Open
Riser Stairs
• Are a form of stairs which can be both economic and
attractive consisting of a central spine beam in the
form.
• The foot of the lowest spine beam is located and floor
levels.
• Anchor bolts or cement in sockets are cast into the
spine beam to provide the fixing for the cantilever.
• The support for the balustrade and handrail are located
in hole formed at the ends of the treads and secured
with a nut and washer on the underside of the tread.
Precast Concrete Open
Riser Stairs.
Precast Concrete Spiral
Stairs
• Work are based upon the stone stairs found in
many historic buildings such as Norman castle
and cathedrals.
• Holes are formed at the extreme ends of the treads,
to receive the handrail supports in such a manner
that the standard passes through a tread and is
fixed to the underside of the tread immediately
below.
• A hollow spacer or distance piece is usually
incorporated between the two consecutive treads.
Precast Concrete Spiral
Stairs.
Precast Stairs –hoisting and
assembling
 Staircases – END
• Question?