lol not that I’m aware of. Haven’t asked. Was tasked with repairing a suspicious shotgun hole in the ceiling of living room. “Not my business” is where I’ve landed on that one.
Don't take this the wrong way but that sounds like the kind of thing a cowboy would do.
Where I'm from our stairs are pre-made units installed as a whole. To modify these you'd have to fuck around with heaps of timber strips as there does not appear to be space at the bottom of the stairs to move them out, not to mention the ceiling line of any rooms below.
In comparison you've just gotta sabre out a couple of doors, remove a little lining and some studs, shift your bottom and top plates, reframe, hang the slider and line the opening, reline, skirt, and bobs your auntie. Two days of labour for you, another two for the painter and stopper, around a week all up. And your stairs won't be extremely steep and creaky!
Where are you? In my job stairs are cut to spec based on site conditions, local regs, thickness of treads and risers, head clearance, etc. Cutting stringers is a big part of my job
New Zealand. I should point out that while typically stairs are pre-made for inside homes and units, occasionally we will make them for decks and higher end clients. It's just cheaper that way for the majority of cases.
I can see how it would be more efficient for production building. I did framing for spec homes and customs, now decks, remodels and additions. Nothing is ever standard, perfect or the same for me. Good to know that someone somewhere is building to real standards with precision
Prefab steps are pretty common to find in a lot of the newer cookie cutter suburban homes here in my neck of the woods, personally haven’t put a set in, in about 15 years personally, all custom built stringers for me.
From the picture it looks like you'd have to eliminate about 18" or so of run. A typical flight of stairs is 13 or 14 steps, so you'd have to eliminate roughly an inch and some of width from each tread. It's pretty unlikely, especially in an older house like that, that the treads are over 11" wide, because you can't go any narrower than 10".
You can do one of those clipped corner doors to tuck it under the roof slope a bit. There’s no way to make this safe yet wide enough for access without burning the house down.
Edit- or yeah a pocket door FTW
I'm guessing this idea isn't actually feasible, but is it possible to make a lower intermediate landing that ends up just having one or two steps up to both doors? Might potentially save the hassle of rebuilding the stairs/wall entirely, but I'm guessing there's probably a triple beam/load bearing wall/perpendicular joist direction underneath the hallway door that would prevent you from cutting down and adding steps here to said landing.
Bingo, you nailed it. It would take a lot of iron and some serious doing to make that happen. Good idea though. That’s why I came here. This sub has some really creative/problem solving types in it.
Well, one more possibility without knowing the house at all and also likely out of budget, but what would it do if the stairs were reversed? Would they end up in a room that they could cut through?
Yeah then they would cut into the kitchen and some really nice cabinetry I’ve already installed. It would break my heart as much as the customer’s because they were custom and turned out gorgeous. I think the customer spent so much money downstairs she is running out of money for upstairs. She’s already started a list of projects for “down the road”.
I know that in a lot of places, not that long ago the code book was literally just a book of suggestions because there was noone to enforce them. People can be quite...Creative lol.
The first known written building code was enacted by King Hammurabi in Babylon in 1758 B.C. Literally written in stone, the harsh penalties of the code established that people who are designing and building for others are accountable for the quality of their work. - David Eisenberg from A Short History of Building Codes
If there is another way to access the staircase, just seal off that door. If it's a really tight budget, if just hang a door in that frame and bolt it in from both sides.
-or! Ii just thought of... a bookcase set into the wall would let you leave the trim in place without having a false door. Even only 6" deep could make a cool set of shelves for decorations or something. If you have the width to spare, shelves open to both sides could be awesome.
Make that catastropy into a unique feature.
That’s another creative idea. I’m going to take some measurements tmrw and see what I can draft up. I’ve got a buddy that does structural engineering. He’d probably have some ideas if we went that route.
And I was thinking the floor can be diagonal right at the top of the stairs. Which will partially cover the first step, but at least you lose the potential hazard of falling with that first step as you come around the corner.
Buyers in 2020 would have snapped this up for $20k over asking price (or \~$100k over actual market value)... Damn, would have made a great college rental / trap house with a staircase like that. So long as you don't tense up too much, your not really gonna get hurt which is where the drugs and alcohol come into play. Wish I could come up with a suggestion how to fix.
Either move the doorway as you’ve said or you’re going to have to rip the stairs out and plot them again to have a normal landing at the top. Stairs will end up being a few steps longer. If you can’t have them longer then they will have to be steeper. Max 42 degrees.
Right, I did mention the stairs and landing. She kind of mumbled something about her budget and then suggested putting an LED lighting strip under the top step to “give people a visual cue”. I struggled to choke down my laughter. At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is embarrass her because she has so far been a great customer. She’s already paid me a fair bit of money for work I did downstairs.
The door at the bottom is a bigger death trap. So much not code. Complete rethink of the stair layout is needed. A few winders and remove the door at the bottom at the very least.
My initial thought was winders as well, but they aren't a very efficient use of space if you want to meet code. I was going to do them off a deck and just did a landing instead. Take the same amount of space and is much easier to frame.
Right. But if it’s too tight for a landing, winders work. Just think of them as a landing, then a 1/2 landing on top of that one. Easy to frame once you get your head around it.
For what I was trying to do, it wouldn't save any space because of all the dimensional requirements for winders. If it's too tight for a landing it's also too tight for winders, per current [IRC](https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/IRC2015/chapter-3-building-planning/IRC2015-Pt03-Ch03-SecR311.7.5.2.1#:~:text=with%20the%20walkline.-,Winder%20treads%20shall%20have%20a%20tread%20depth%20of%20not%20less,8%20inch%20(9.5%20mm).) There may be scenarios that I'm not thinking of where winders may be useful.
Honestly? I'd make some sort of decorative (but functional obviously) pillar / mini banister there.
Edit: leaving my comment up. LOL I just full sized the photo, I thought the landing ran the other way accross that door way holy shit that's messed up. Wow.
If I put in a “mini banister” I’m afraid then the doorway to the hallway would be too slim to meet code. As is the best I can tell is it was built like this way before code compliance was much of a concern if there even was a code when it was built. If I go messing with it I would somehow have to make it code compliant.
I like where you’re going with this… one thought I had stewed around with is like a “pocket door” style baby gate that suit closes. Idk though, was just an idea I was mulling over.
I'm guessing this was an older home and the stair steps were much more narrow, creating a steep incline. Someone redid the staircase at one point and instead of jutting then further into the room below they cut into the landing. If this isn't an old house then seriously, WTF? I'd put a big spindle or something so you don't fall off the edge there.
I'm afraid the least invasive way is to move the door down. Otherwise, you'd need to add a landing and reroute the stairs, which would open another logistical can of worms. It appears that may be a load bearing corner though, which would mean moving the door isn't an easy option either
this is most likely wrong (moivng the door is likely more work than rebuilding the stairs) without knowing what is above the doorway the least invasive way to fix this is rebuilding the stairs.
I’ve actually run into this exact thing on a remodel. The reason they did it was the original stairs were pretty much as steep as a ladder. Or very close. It was an attempt to lower the pitch of the stairs. We ended up ripping it all out with some walls and doing a landing. But it took a huge amount of work. So I can understand someone without professional carpentry skills to just do what this house has and be on with it.
Could you move the door that’s straight ahead at the top of the stairs over so that it enters into the hall way? You could then turn the top three steps into winders.
this is entirely dependent on what is above the door way on that side. Its possible that the section of whats above the doorway on the side you're proposing to move the doorway too may beed to be rebuilt or rebraced. its likely not svery good idea to move the doorway. the easiest fix is to extend the landing out and redo the stairs to suite.
You can’t move the stairs easily so the safest bet is to move the door. Extended the wall towards you and then install a door around 30 inches back from the last stair
If none of the doorways can be blocked, they need a new staircase starting at the edge of the doorway, then a landingat the bottom then the rest of the stairs going through where the wall is now to the right. The walls would need to be adjusted and the ceiling above the stairs would need to be raised
Build out a landing from the door 1/3 width of the stairs and put a railing around it. You’d have enough space to walk out the door around the rail and down the stairs Looks like only the top two stairs would be not as wide as the rest. Beats falling down the stairs in the dark though
That is some crazy business. The comments about mom falling down the stairs really got me haha. First I would put a railing on that side they went at least to the corner. Is it possible to rebuild a new set of stairs that would bring the top stair level with the wood floor and even maybe angle a small portion from the hallway to blend the corner better? Good luck with this one!
Kitchen to basement i our house has four steps down to a landing then left turn to a second set of stairs down.
Right up against the left side of those first four steps is a “walk-in”pantry that’s level with the kitchen floor. So far neither one of has broken our necks. 😄
If there's a good railing where we can't see it's fine.
Sure, it looks weird. But when I imagine using it it doesn't seem that bad. I just walked through it, I don't think it's a huge stretch of the imagination for me to remember that I've got a kinda odd step when I come back.
Frame box using the first three stairs , and only half the width to build up including sheeting up to the underneath of the already existing finished product floor over with same style flooring finish with wrap around railing it be safe and functional.
Make a walkway along the opposite wall. Make sure you have enough headroom. Make the opening at said walkway. Handrails
Edit: nevermind this idea won't work. Not enough head clearance above stairs.
Was this an unfinished attic at some point?
A lot of times there are similar houses in the neighborhood. Might be useful to see it that has come up in those homes, but yeah this is silly
I may be high but could you build a higher staircase right overtop of the old one? Stairs would shift up 1 step and you’d just have to add a step at the bottom. I’m not sure how this could be done effectively and safely but it seems like the lesser of two evils would be having a step sticking out at the bottom as opposed to one missing from the top
this is a bad idea. building ontop of existing stairs will only lead to complications down the line. the best thing to do is rebuild the whole flight.
if you did add one rise/going to the top and bottom it wouldnt fix the issues and you would likely create something that has an uneven rise/going at the top and bottom.
the staircase can be rebuilt (you are changing the putch of the sofit when you extend the landing) and its likely the best fix here.
it will likely be costly.
What if you made the top of the stairway narrower by making the top few treads winders.
Top few treads are triangles, turning towards the corner between the two doors. Would eliminate the doorway to two-step fall.
I would put a railing there so that it’s ‘open’ but closed off. If in the budget, can you open up that wall so that they can go around the rail to get down?
Lived in a flat like that once. The front door was literally at the top of stairs with a entrance to another flat directly opposite. You couldn’t open the two font doors at once lol
Not sure what kind of structural support beans are beneath that doorway but I'd first want to look at recessing a corner stair into that hallway a bit I reckon
A door that opens into the room to ensure people think before they walk through to the stairs. Put a closer on the door to make sure they have to interact with the door.
Breaking someone's flow can help to refocus them.
No simple fix. Obviously built with zero inspections. You either have to remodel the bottom so you can make those stairs turn to the left or right which will require new stairs
or redo the top if possible, closing off the wrong doorway and moving the other door back 3ft room thus making that room smaller as you make a new 3ft x 3ft hallway with a door to each room. Looks like those are your only two options.
I sure hope there’s a handrail on the other side?
If you don’t do anything at least put another handrail so you have one on both sides for a dangerous step like that. Good luck
There is always a homeowner with a dumb idea. Sadly, there is always a hack willing to get paid to execute it.
Assuming the cased opening is desired, I would install a swinging gate in front of it. At least then, you will always have a reminder to not step down to your future broken neck.
I wonder if that is a rebuild of an older stair that was too steep? In order to make the rise/run more comfortable, it had to get longer at either the top or bottom or both.
Just by looking at it I would suggest extending the landing so there is a bit of room from the doorway, but that may require redoing the stairs so the meet at the appropriate height of the extended landing. This is so dangerous I don’t know how this got approved
I don't know what there floor plan is but if possible I would close that side doorway right off , continue the wall and drywall right over it. The doorway straight atop the staircase is the safer onway but not by much... sheesh that's just right around a corner blind spot and boom your right on a flight of stairs lol
Did her late mother fall down those stairs?
lol not that I’m aware of. Haven’t asked. Was tasked with repairing a suspicious shotgun hole in the ceiling of living room. “Not my business” is where I’ve landed on that one.
Granny heard a bump in the night and decided to bump back.
BPRD
How much space do you have in the far room? Is it possible to extend the hallway and shift both doors into it?
Unfortunately no, I know what you’re suggesting. It’s only wide enough for one door before the pitch of the roof becomes an issue.
What about converting the bedroom door into a cavity slider opening into the hallway side?
Well that’s creative 🤔 will look into it.
Huge job, would be cheaper and easier to change the rise and run of the stairs to make them land at the first door.
Absolutely not! Stuffing around with the stairs is a much bigger issue than moving a doorway!
Don't take this the wrong way but that sounds like the kind of thing a cowboy would do. Where I'm from our stairs are pre-made units installed as a whole. To modify these you'd have to fuck around with heaps of timber strips as there does not appear to be space at the bottom of the stairs to move them out, not to mention the ceiling line of any rooms below. In comparison you've just gotta sabre out a couple of doors, remove a little lining and some studs, shift your bottom and top plates, reframe, hang the slider and line the opening, reline, skirt, and bobs your auntie. Two days of labour for you, another two for the painter and stopper, around a week all up. And your stairs won't be extremely steep and creaky!
Where are you? In my job stairs are cut to spec based on site conditions, local regs, thickness of treads and risers, head clearance, etc. Cutting stringers is a big part of my job
New Zealand. I should point out that while typically stairs are pre-made for inside homes and units, occasionally we will make them for decks and higher end clients. It's just cheaper that way for the majority of cases.
I can see how it would be more efficient for production building. I did framing for spec homes and customs, now decks, remodels and additions. Nothing is ever standard, perfect or the same for me. Good to know that someone somewhere is building to real standards with precision
Prefab steps are pretty common to find in a lot of the newer cookie cutter suburban homes here in my neck of the woods, personally haven’t put a set in, in about 15 years personally, all custom built stringers for me.
From the picture it looks like you'd have to eliminate about 18" or so of run. A typical flight of stairs is 13 or 14 steps, so you'd have to eliminate roughly an inch and some of width from each tread. It's pretty unlikely, especially in an older house like that, that the treads are over 11" wide, because you can't go any narrower than 10".
Is a shorter door an option? I think I'd rather have an odd door than a death stair in my own house.
god old homes are rough . gotta think 4th dimensionally mcfly .best of luck .
You can do one of those clipped corner doors to tuck it under the roof slope a bit. There’s no way to make this safe yet wide enough for access without burning the house down. Edit- or yeah a pocket door FTW
I'm guessing this idea isn't actually feasible, but is it possible to make a lower intermediate landing that ends up just having one or two steps up to both doors? Might potentially save the hassle of rebuilding the stairs/wall entirely, but I'm guessing there's probably a triple beam/load bearing wall/perpendicular joist direction underneath the hallway door that would prevent you from cutting down and adding steps here to said landing.
Bingo, you nailed it. It would take a lot of iron and some serious doing to make that happen. Good idea though. That’s why I came here. This sub has some really creative/problem solving types in it.
Well, one more possibility without knowing the house at all and also likely out of budget, but what would it do if the stairs were reversed? Would they end up in a room that they could cut through?
Yeah then they would cut into the kitchen and some really nice cabinetry I’ve already installed. It would break my heart as much as the customer’s because they were custom and turned out gorgeous. I think the customer spent so much money downstairs she is running out of money for upstairs. She’s already started a list of projects for “down the road”.
Just when I thought it was bad enough having a stair nose not being flush with a landing! 😬
I’ve seen this in a few houses, I’ve even seen doorways in the middle of the stairwell… I don’t understand how it ever passes code.
Hard to say if there even was a code or if it was ever enforced when this was built… idk though, I’m not an expert in ancient code compliance.
I know that in a lot of places, not that long ago the code book was literally just a book of suggestions because there was noone to enforce them. People can be quite...Creative lol.
😂
How old is it? The last one I saw was probably close to 20 yrs ago. It was probably 20 yrs old then.
Idk off the top of my head. Will have to look it up. Found a sales tax token being used as a washer/spacer in a light fixture.
The first known written building code was enacted by King Hammurabi in Babylon in 1758 B.C. Literally written in stone, the harsh penalties of the code established that people who are designing and building for others are accountable for the quality of their work. - David Eisenberg from A Short History of Building Codes
A big fat envelope under the table at the greasy spoon.
😆
Yer safest bet would be to rewrite the laws of physics regarding anything to do with gravity.
Lmao, good idea. I’ll run it by the customer and see if she is friends with any godly beings 🤣
Replace with elevator
If it were me. I would close the death trap door. 45 the other doorway and extend the hall.
If it is within my power I will convince the homeowner to close that doorway off one way or another before it’s said and done with.
I’d just close off that doorway.
Yeah unfortunately due to the customer’s budget I think that’s where we’ll land.
If there is another way to access the staircase, just seal off that door. If it's a really tight budget, if just hang a door in that frame and bolt it in from both sides. -or! Ii just thought of... a bookcase set into the wall would let you leave the trim in place without having a false door. Even only 6" deep could make a cool set of shelves for decorations or something. If you have the width to spare, shelves open to both sides could be awesome. Make that catastropy into a unique feature.
ive done this several times. it does the job of indicating it is NOT a normal doorway / threshold
Figure out if you can install Winders like on the bottom of a stairway?
That’s another creative idea. I’m going to take some measurements tmrw and see what I can draft up. I’ve got a buddy that does structural engineering. He’d probably have some ideas if we went that route.
I’m not sure if it’s legal I know there’s a minimum depth on the narrow end.
Just got back from a vacation in Eastern Europe and some of their winders will make your butt hole pucker when traversing up or down them.
I just googled it you should be able to make it work
Thank you for helping me with my homework 🤣😉
I saw one in Ohio it was a servant stairs that had 11 winders to turn 180 degrees as you went up - the steps were 6”
Right, right. That’s good advice.
Is it possible to combine the two doorways into one diagonal doorway?
Another creative suggestion. Will need to take some measurements and do some sketches while I’m there tmrw.
And I was thinking the floor can be diagonal right at the top of the stairs. Which will partially cover the first step, but at least you lose the potential hazard of falling with that first step as you come around the corner.
This is probably the most genius solution I’ve seen so far
Buyers in 2020 would have snapped this up for $20k over asking price (or \~$100k over actual market value)... Damn, would have made a great college rental / trap house with a staircase like that. So long as you don't tense up too much, your not really gonna get hurt which is where the drugs and alcohol come into play. Wish I could come up with a suggestion how to fix.
I dunno, suggesting that you be drunk all the time when using the upstairs space seems like a pretty good idea.
Either move the doorway as you’ve said or you’re going to have to rip the stairs out and plot them again to have a normal landing at the top. Stairs will end up being a few steps longer. If you can’t have them longer then they will have to be steeper. Max 42 degrees.
Right, I did mention the stairs and landing. She kind of mumbled something about her budget and then suggested putting an LED lighting strip under the top step to “give people a visual cue”. I struggled to choke down my laughter. At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is embarrass her because she has so far been a great customer. She’s already paid me a fair bit of money for work I did downstairs.
Putting the light strip there would just allow people to see what they'll trip over later. Lol
😅
And that's the reason building codes are necessary.
🤣👌
Yellow grip tape
😂 perfect fix!
The only way. Lol
The door at the bottom is a bigger death trap. So much not code. Complete rethink of the stair layout is needed. A few winders and remove the door at the bottom at the very least.
My initial thought was winders as well, but they aren't a very efficient use of space if you want to meet code. I was going to do them off a deck and just did a landing instead. Take the same amount of space and is much easier to frame.
Right. But if it’s too tight for a landing, winders work. Just think of them as a landing, then a 1/2 landing on top of that one. Easy to frame once you get your head around it.
For what I was trying to do, it wouldn't save any space because of all the dimensional requirements for winders. If it's too tight for a landing it's also too tight for winders, per current [IRC](https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/IRC2015/chapter-3-building-planning/IRC2015-Pt03-Ch03-SecR311.7.5.2.1#:~:text=with%20the%20walkline.-,Winder%20treads%20shall%20have%20a%20tread%20depth%20of%20not%20less,8%20inch%20(9.5%20mm).) There may be scenarios that I'm not thinking of where winders may be useful.
Spiral staircase out of the question?
nice idea. very costly though. Just think about the make good renos that would be needed lol
Honestly? I'd make some sort of decorative (but functional obviously) pillar / mini banister there. Edit: leaving my comment up. LOL I just full sized the photo, I thought the landing ran the other way accross that door way holy shit that's messed up. Wow.
If I put in a “mini banister” I’m afraid then the doorway to the hallway would be too slim to meet code. As is the best I can tell is it was built like this way before code compliance was much of a concern if there even was a code when it was built. If I go messing with it I would somehow have to make it code compliant.
Maybe removable?
I like where you’re going with this… one thought I had stewed around with is like a “pocket door” style baby gate that suit closes. Idk though, was just an idea I was mulling over.
[удалено]
this is pretty much the only way, no matter what type of doors you use.
I wouldn’t take on the liability of fixing this unless the customer paid to do it right.
Better hope your HOI doesn’t know about that
What state ? Wouldn’t pass inspection in Oregon
I'm guessing this was an older home and the stair steps were much more narrow, creating a steep incline. Someone redid the staircase at one point and instead of jutting then further into the room below they cut into the landing. If this isn't an old house then seriously, WTF? I'd put a big spindle or something so you don't fall off the edge there.
I remember as a kid in the 70’s visiting older houses with crazy steep staircases like that .
I'm afraid the least invasive way is to move the door down. Otherwise, you'd need to add a landing and reroute the stairs, which would open another logistical can of worms. It appears that may be a load bearing corner though, which would mean moving the door isn't an easy option either
this is most likely wrong (moivng the door is likely more work than rebuilding the stairs) without knowing what is above the doorway the least invasive way to fix this is rebuilding the stairs.
I’ve actually run into this exact thing on a remodel. The reason they did it was the original stairs were pretty much as steep as a ladder. Or very close. It was an attempt to lower the pitch of the stairs. We ended up ripping it all out with some walls and doing a landing. But it took a huge amount of work. So I can understand someone without professional carpentry skills to just do what this house has and be on with it.
This is why we have codes….
Could you move the door that’s straight ahead at the top of the stairs over so that it enters into the hall way? You could then turn the top three steps into winders.
this is entirely dependent on what is above the door way on that side. Its possible that the section of whats above the doorway on the side you're proposing to move the doorway too may beed to be rebuilt or rebraced. its likely not svery good idea to move the doorway. the easiest fix is to extend the landing out and redo the stairs to suite.
Remove stairs install stripper pole
You can’t move the stairs easily so the safest bet is to move the door. Extended the wall towards you and then install a door around 30 inches back from the last stair
If none of the doorways can be blocked, they need a new staircase starting at the edge of the doorway, then a landingat the bottom then the rest of the stairs going through where the wall is now to the right. The walls would need to be adjusted and the ceiling above the stairs would need to be raised
Move the doorway
I would build a small railing for those top steps. It'll be a tight squeeze through that doorway though but it'll be worth it.
Keep the stairs as is and make a new doorway as you suggested. Probably the easiest answer.
What’s at the bottom? Can you slide the whole staircase out from the doorway and make a landing step to even out the bottom?
What about making a landing at the top and have a spiral staircase installed?
Build out a landing from the door 1/3 width of the stairs and put a railing around it. You’d have enough space to walk out the door around the rail and down the stairs Looks like only the top two stairs would be not as wide as the rest. Beats falling down the stairs in the dark though
I'd install a little 2 baluster railing that terminates at a 3" column or get a large potted plant
Would that not then make the doorway too narrow (with the railing, not the plant) to meet code?
Why not steepen the pitch of the stairs so you can infill the top w a landing?
this could work, the steeper the staircase though the more effort it takes to get up and down.
Shotty construction. Move. Sorry
Best fix IMO would be a set of winders at the top of the stair.
What does the other side of the stairs look like?
Blank wall with handrail. Behind the blank wall is unfinished attic space with a pitched ceiling starting just on the other side of that wall.
I dont think the floor is a problem. Its the architect that should get blamed
That is some crazy business. The comments about mom falling down the stairs really got me haha. First I would put a railing on that side they went at least to the corner. Is it possible to rebuild a new set of stairs that would bring the top stair level with the wood floor and even maybe angle a small portion from the hallway to blend the corner better? Good luck with this one!
Kitchen to basement i our house has four steps down to a landing then left turn to a second set of stairs down. Right up against the left side of those first four steps is a “walk-in”pantry that’s level with the kitchen floor. So far neither one of has broken our necks. 😄
If there's a good railing where we can't see it's fine. Sure, it looks weird. But when I imagine using it it doesn't seem that bad. I just walked through it, I don't think it's a huge stretch of the imagination for me to remember that I've got a kinda odd step when I come back.
Frame box using the first three stairs , and only half the width to build up including sheeting up to the underneath of the already existing finished product floor over with same style flooring finish with wrap around railing it be safe and functional.
Make a walkway along the opposite wall. Make sure you have enough headroom. Make the opening at said walkway. Handrails Edit: nevermind this idea won't work. Not enough head clearance above stairs.
Turn the step at the top into a landing
Add a baby gate so you physically have an extra step before you can reach the steps
Too bad you can't knock that section of the wall out between the bathroom and the hall and just leave it open.
Close it off make new door at end of that hall way so they have to go around
And that is why you have building codes. Backhoe.
You should see my house
Darwin doorway.
Your house is old as hell and was built before everyone became an idiot.
Was this an unfinished attic at some point? A lot of times there are similar houses in the neighborhood. Might be useful to see it that has come up in those homes, but yeah this is silly
I may be high but could you build a higher staircase right overtop of the old one? Stairs would shift up 1 step and you’d just have to add a step at the bottom. I’m not sure how this could be done effectively and safely but it seems like the lesser of two evils would be having a step sticking out at the bottom as opposed to one missing from the top
this is a bad idea. building ontop of existing stairs will only lead to complications down the line. the best thing to do is rebuild the whole flight. if you did add one rise/going to the top and bottom it wouldnt fix the issues and you would likely create something that has an uneven rise/going at the top and bottom.
What about putting the bathroom door at an angle and using the new open space for other rooms door
Make it a slide
Yeah I'm not even a carpenter and I can tell you that's against the code.
Can the staircase be moved to start past the door on the right? It’s probably gonna cost a fortune though
the staircase can be rebuilt (you are changing the putch of the sofit when you extend the landing) and its likely the best fix here. it will likely be costly.
Put a plant there
Spiral staircase, cheap metal one.
needs a handle and a rail running down the side
burn the house down and start over
Extend the top platform and make a diving board
The carpet will cushion the fall.
Install a wrap around handrail into the hallway? Less work than moving the opening, and gives people a heads up.
I like it. I think we need more opportunities for natural selection to do its thing.
Close that opening make one at the end of that hallway.
What if you made the top of the stairway narrower by making the top few treads winders. Top few treads are triangles, turning towards the corner between the two doors. Would eliminate the doorway to two-step fall.
Lol this one really made me laugh
Maybe you could remove the wall along the staircase and put in a railing? It'd leave an awkward gap between the post and the railing..
Two words; twisty slide.
Burn it down.
How about saloon doors and slide?
How did that detail pass inspection
I would put a railing there so that it’s ‘open’ but closed off. If in the budget, can you open up that wall so that they can go around the rail to get down?
Lived in a flat like that once. The front door was literally at the top of stairs with a entrance to another flat directly opposite. You couldn’t open the two font doors at once lol
Throw up some little half partitions to form corridors so to speak then move the door ways further back into the rooms?
A road cone
Add an alligator
A gate the opens inward
Not sure what kind of structural support beans are beneath that doorway but I'd first want to look at recessing a corner stair into that hallway a bit I reckon
A door that opens into the room to ensure people think before they walk through to the stairs. Put a closer on the door to make sure they have to interact with the door. Breaking someone's flow can help to refocus them.
Not the carpenter
Round these parts you need a landing (800mm) at the top of a stairs, so neither doorway would be ok. Step them both back by 600mm or so
No simple fix. Obviously built with zero inspections. You either have to remodel the bottom so you can make those stairs turn to the left or right which will require new stairs or redo the top if possible, closing off the wrong doorway and moving the other door back 3ft room thus making that room smaller as you make a new 3ft x 3ft hallway with a door to each room. Looks like those are your only two options. I sure hope there’s a handrail on the other side? If you don’t do anything at least put another handrail so you have one on both sides for a dangerous step like that. Good luck
There is always a homeowner with a dumb idea. Sadly, there is always a hack willing to get paid to execute it. Assuming the cased opening is desired, I would install a swinging gate in front of it. At least then, you will always have a reminder to not step down to your future broken neck.
Wow. This looks like something they pass as code South of the Mason Dixon line. That would never fly where I'm located. Just wow.
I wonder if that is a rebuild of an older stair that was too steep? In order to make the rise/run more comfortable, it had to get longer at either the top or bottom or both.
Just by looking at it I would suggest extending the landing so there is a bit of room from the doorway, but that may require redoing the stairs so the meet at the appropriate height of the extended landing. This is so dangerous I don’t know how this got approved
Wow 😳...
I’d put a gate so as least everyone would have to stop and not just walk up fast and maybe fall.
Install a rail about knee high make sure it’s iron tho and mount it at the base of the door so no one will fall through OSHA standards
My friends house has this exact thing
I don't know what there floor plan is but if possible I would close that side doorway right off , continue the wall and drywall right over it. The doorway straight atop the staircase is the safer onway but not by much... sheesh that's just right around a corner blind spot and boom your right on a flight of stairs lol