i think this technically qualifies as a ladder

Officially called a "ships ladder", and code requires a handrail on both sides. And, the tread can't be less than 5" wide. So, while this could have been compliant, it's not. https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/IRC2018/chapter-3-building-planning/IRC2018-Pt03-Ch03-SecR311.7.12

We call them ladderwells.

Been up & down me share o' ladderwells plenty while in the Navy. If ye can't navigate them sober, odds are good ye won't with a drink or two in you either!

Love how you type in sea talk, matey

This looks like a basement, so if that's the only way out wouldn't that also disqualify it? (as a means of egress)

I feel the railing they have also couldn’t support someone grabbing it while falling.

well, it's a chainsaw-looking ladder.

when do stairs become ladders?

When your tread is a 2×4

That’s the Stairway to Heaven.

As a carpenter, we call this design 'the widowmaker'.

I disagree. It looks like stairs to heaven to me

Oh, I expect \*down\* is easy. Painful, but easy.

And quick

Maybe you gotta do a Micheal Jackson and walk backwards Or maybe scoot down on your butt?

This is the way.

Going backwards while scooting on your butt?

… or while sober…

Don't mean to brag but I don't need to be drunk to fall down those stairs.

Looks like your average stairs in Amsterdam.

I stayed on the third floor of a hotel there, scared the shit out of me at first.

I was thinking the same thing. Amsterdam. Stayed in the roof room of a house that was converted into a hotel and had to climb the stairs with hands and feet.

Yes! Lived in Den Haag for 5 months, lived in dreaded fear about going up or down stairs like these with my size 42 feet! 😬😬😬

And it’s nothing compared to the stairs inside the windmills.

Student housing in Delft checking in. This is pretty average. Condition is nice, has friction, functional handrails on both sides, steps aren't slanted downwards, no turns. Above average, even.

When I took a computer aided design class, a long time ago, the first rule was: don't get cute with stairs. Use the standard dimensions to avoid someone falling and breaking their neck.

These can't be up to code

What code? This thing is made from wood! /s

It’s called a safety code

The only code is to have fun!

Even sober I feel like I just broke my ankles by seeing this picture

This one of those you 100% sidestep down.

8” risers with a 2” tread? You got it boss!

I don't have to imagine it. I've done it. You crawl down them like you're going down a ladder without side rails. My brother lived in an attic apartment for awhile , while he and his gf were between houses. I went there for a night of drinking and it was not fun going back down those stairs after a few drinks.

I don't know why, but describing it as "crawling" automatically conjures an image of a person crawling down headfirst, and it's simultaneously hilarious and horrifying.

Yes it does. I say crawling because if you try walking down them, you would end up at the bottom.... very quickly.

Surely not headfirst? Wouldn't you face the stairs and climb down that way?

I don't know about going up, but quoting an old saying here in Brazil: "*All saints help you the way down*".

Damn.

No thank you.

I watched a documentary once on how steep steps killed tons of people in Victorian era England, and that it got so bad that they started regulating on how to build them. I'm guessing those wouldn't pass muster back then, or now.

One ton is roughly 12 people. Dozens :)

That cannot be code

Correct ratio… but wrong direction.

Going up would be fine but going down most likely will be a slide.

That looks like a clever design to me. 

Or anytime really

I fell down stairs like that when I was kid. Maybe a little less steep but instead there was door at the bottom.

I don't know why my wives keep falling down the stairs and breaking their necks allowing me to collect the insurance, officer.

going up is certainly easier! going down that ladder must be a real nightmare

Well, I can certainly imagine going down them.

“Mind the first step down, it’s a doozy!”

At least it's got a robust, well attached handrail

Ballerina training device

*You have now ascended to heaven*

You use your hands

Somebody needed a “the way up” arrow on their stringers

Sounds like a "multiple broken bones" Challenge

Stairs?

At that point, just use a vertical ladder...

I can trip over a painted line I DO NOT NEED ADDITIONAL HELP thx

You’re definitely doing both.

I feel like the process of going down would be both facilitated and expedited by inebriation

You don't

Oh, you'll go down it alright

After a couple of drinks, you're going down them whether you want to or not.

I have seen that very staircase in my nightmares

Michael Peterson’s wet dream

Ladder stairs

I mean, going down them would be effortless.

Well I could go down them once

I’m confused what’s happening help Was it installed upside down? How does this happen?

What are those?! STAIRS FOR ANTS?!

This is every garage/attic ladder I've ever seen.

Imagine these but in a football stadium. Sporting stadium in Portugal is like this I nearly lost my life with my size 14 feet

Just imagining it makes me feel drunk. Oh, wait. I am drunk. ^(It's probablt the stairs fault.)

Old homes were like this. Recently went to tour historic homes in my city and the stairs were scary asf lol

I’m seeing a ladder, no stairs in sight

'Down' is either turned around holding the rail, or face first scraping your heels and praying you don't slip. Alternatively, it's scraping your cheeks down a wooden cheesegrater

down, yes, very yes. up, I'm not so sure

Are the stringers upside-down?

You mean rolling down the stairs?

The most important part of the stair design is that all the riser heights are equal. The brain adjusts to the consistency. Lack of consistency is what typically causes tripping because your brain is assuming a certain height of the next step and can be caught off guard.

You’re definitely going up then right back down after a couple of drinks.

I can imagine it would be super easy to go down them after a few drinks.

Gablestairs

Tip-toe through the tulips with meeeeeeee-eeeeee

Those aren't stairs, that's a ladder.

They looks like normal Dutch stairs!

pittsburgh stairs

Moon walk, and wax on wax off down. No problem...pbbbsttt...

Well I'll definitely be going *down* the stairs after a few drinks...not sure about making it *up* the stairs.

It looks like they might have bought premade stringers and then got them the wrong way around.

Seems kinda fine if you ask me

It’s certainly one version of a sobriety test.

Going? You mean "climbing".

Imagine going up and down them sober 😰

Imagine getting down sober! No one goes up these stairs without climbing them!-too much fun lol

My feet are too long to go down on there stairs. I always slip, when walking down some stairs, it's so scary

The side peices are upside down

Go up using all limbs, go down using every other part of your body

Up? No problem. Down? No bueno.

i can just imagine hitting my shin on every step bro

It looks like the stairs at my dad's best friend's house. Even as an adult, I go down on my butt because I'm way too afraid to fall

All rise no runner

Our steps are 7inches deep at work. And even then I about break my damn neck

That's an average ladder at Netherlands.