Winding wooden staircase is an original and reliable option for the interior of the cottage or country house. The set of pre-fabricated products includes photos, drawings, and detailed installation instructions. It is quite feasible to build a simple staircase with your own hands, and its price will be affordable. However, to make it safe and durable, you’ll have to strictly follow the recommendations of professionals. You can find them (as well as the thematic photos) in the article.
First stage: choice of material
For the support post of structure, you can use a wooden beam of an appropriate diameter. Alternatively, you may take a metal tube with thick walls. To make the hand-made structure safe, the diameter of the support post must be no less than 50 mm.
Beech, ash, maple, and oak are suitable for the porch if their price corresponds to your financial possibilities. You can also use softwood – pine and larch. You can find the price of these species below. An important condition – wood must be well dried. The maximum moisture percentage for the material is 12%.
As for the railings and string, you should make them with your own hands through gluing the thin wooden plates. It is quite cumbersome to give the necessary bends to the finished slats. For that, you should soak them in hot water, and when they become soft- design them. As you can see in the photo, the wood goes well with metal. Therefore, you can use balusters and handrails made of stainless steel for fencing the stairs.
Calculations of construction
The comfort and safety of a winding structure depend largely on following the technical standards. The following are the values you’ll have to calculate and the algorithm of calculation.
- Total height of construction. To calculate it, you should add the thickness of the overlap to the height of the ceiling.
- Diameter of construction. It consists of the double length of one step and the thickness of the support stand.
- Height, established between the adjacent spirals. It must be no less than 2 m. This will exclude the risk of head impact at rising.
- Radius of movement. To calculate this value, you should add the width of step to the diameter of support post, and divide the amount received into two. This value is calculated to make the depth of treads along the trajectory of movement as comfortable as possible.
- Depth of step. Usually, this parameter lies within 250-400 mm. Here you must consider the features of winding structures. As you will mount the dancing steps, you can make a comfortable length on the line of movement. At a distance of 150 mm from the central support stand, their depth must be no less than 100 mm. The recommended value at the middle line is 200 mm.
- Height of one step. When calculating this parameter, you need to take into account the distance between the twists located side by side. The most comfortable height of steps is 120-220 mm. For calculations, you should use the following rule: double depth of tread and height of step must give 600-650 mm in total. This indicator corresponds to the average length of step; therefore, it is used for designing the staircases.
- Radius of central stand.
- Angle of twist. This value illustrates where the trajectory of movements turns.
- Length of the lift line. To calculate this parameter, you should multiply the radius along the movement line by 2π.
- Length of the outer edge of construction. Here you will have to multiply 2π by the total radius.
- Depth of tread along the outside edge. For that, you should divide the length of the line, indicated in paragraph 10, by the number of steps.
- Number of steps. The height of the staircase to the second floor should be divided by the height of one step.
Typical difficulties in calculating
One of the most common difficulties is that the calculations often give fractional numbers, which complicates the preparation of details.
If there are inaccuracies, the balance of step parameters can be disrupted, which will adversely affect the structural reliability.
To remedy the situation, you should make the last step a little lower, due to which the sizes of the following must be aligned.
In contrast to their flight analogs (whose price is much higher), winding models should be made without risers. This facilitates the lift to the second floor. In the photo, you can see that such structures look airily. It also simplifies the process of manufacturing and reduces the product price.
Preparation of opening
The decoration of the structure determines the form of the aperture. The photo shows the following configurations: round and square.
Preferably, you should prepare the aperture still at the stage of building the cottage or private house. If it has not been done, you should cut it according to the calculations performed. Leave the gap of 100 mm to the edge of opening from all sides of the staircase structure. Such a measure will prevent traumas when holding on to the handrails.
In the photo, you can see that the edges of the cut aperture are faced. For that, you should use beams, faced with veneer sheets. It is harder to work with round winding constructions, as the lining should be bent. Usually, the finishing of the square aperture with your own hands doesn’t pose any difficulties.
Manufacture of wooden steps and other details
There are several options for building the steps. You can buy the planks at the hardware store and give them any desired shape. After removing everything unnecessary, you need to clear the edges with sandpaper. You can also build the treads out of the rectangular board. To that end, you should cut it in half (diagonally) and process the edges and ends. From the inner edge of the tread, you should drill a hole with a diameter equal to the size of the support post.
Additionally, you can cover the steps of a hand-made winding structure with several layers of varnish.
For connection, you have to prepare sleeves, spacers, and bolts. You have to take wooden bars for building the balusters with your own hands. If you have a lathe, you can originally decorate them in house conditions. The price of finished fine-molded balusters is very high. In the photo of construction, you can see the stands situated on the first and last step of the flight that have a larger size so that the railing looks completed. There is another option- to buy a ready-made set of balusters. To build a bent handrail, you can take thin slats and glue them together.
Assembly of staircase details
At first, you should install the support stand. After levelling the bearing beam vertically, it is concreted or fastened with anchorage bolts. You should put the prepared steps on the installed post, dividing them with the casings. After aligning their position (in the photo, you can see the overlap of steps, which is approximately 50 mm wide), you should fix the details with bolts. Then you should install the balusters on the dowel to the broad edge of the steps. Using the tapping screws, you should mount the handrail over them.
This concludes the work on the hand-made winding construction. All that remains is to apply a layer of protective coating the product. It is very important to observe the technology in the process of building so that the structure is safe and reliable. Share your experience in the arrangement of wooden steps for the cottage by leaving the comments.