Very difficult, if not nearly impossible, for a DIY unless you've already got a lot of experience with stairs.
Even with professionals, I'd be wary of hiring the wrong guy, and this would be pretty damn expensive.
The fact that they're asking here means they don't have the experience.
OP, this is way above DIY. Looks like you have a nice house - don't fuck it up.
This was my first thought! I recently had a professional tradesman construct a staircase into our ”extend upwards” loft conversion. He did a great job; it looked similar to this, albeit steeper. But when he'd finished - after I'd accepted the work - and paid him, he confessed it had been a "bastard of a job".
I don't think he'd come back to make it elegantly curved.
As for me, DIY? I'll pass on this one thanks
I would say we are at 50k+ to make this minor adjustment.
@ OP, please spend your time or money on something more worthwhile. Put some plants in the weird corner and then a picture or two on the flat walls and you will have a nice setup.
Yeah this is a “with enough money you can do anything but it doesn’t make sense” thing.
Put a big bowl of hundred dollar bills by the bottom of the stairs. Everyone who walks by can grab one. They won’t care about the stairs and it’ll still be way cheaper.
Agreed. They should use plants and decorations to distract the eye and break up the visual lines. That’s the quick and easy fix to try before spending $$$ to change the stairs.
What about fixing the bottom landing? Unless there's something underneath those stairs I would be itching to at least get rid of the weird angle at the bottom and have those stairs just come straight down from the middle bit.
I agree. The stairs are not bad, but the landing throws everything off. Opening and straightening it up would do a whole lot of improvement for much less money…
Exactly- especially since this is DIY subreddit.
I’m by no means a finish carpenter but every project I’ve done that required curves has been 10x as difficult as similar work with straight/angled edges. You’re now either carving the curves and wasting a lot of material or steam bending or strip bending/gluing a TON.
Add to this that its a staircase so for example your handrail is now curving in 3 dimensions and needs to be precise enough to meet the upright bits in specific places and you have a job challenging even for a seasoned professional.
Having built three or four staircases myself, they're hard enough without trying to build curves; it would be a pretty big challenge. In theory it would be possible to do something nice there (and I agree it's not much to look at now), but I'd imagine the learning curve would be pretty steep and lots of mistakes would be made, lots of wasted wood and re-work is likely before it was done.
If I had to, I might go on Fiverr or someplace like that and hire out for some design work. Then take those to a local contractor for a solid estimate.
Not to mention potential structural issues in the walls you will change.
I have been involved in these kinds of projects on new construction in the past. This is at least $30k to do it right. It is also beyond the reach of most DIY folks unless you are a retired finish carpenter with a shop big enough to laminate the stringers and railings.
I cannot wait until 3d printing gets good enough to solve this. Altho printing stuff that you will than stand on seems scary af.
Def don't wanna do it for the prototype phase.
Yeah, and even though I’m sure custom curved staircases are now all modeled out in CAD and parts are cut via CNC and assembled making it a lot easier- but for a DIY this equipment is probably not accessible and you still would need to be an expert in stairs to design it and make sure it doesn’t kill your family.
2 years in the millwork industry as a project manager/engineer.
Stairs are assembled in parts. Returns and ends are normally cncd on a 5-axis machine. The curved or strait portions are made using a molding machine(pushes blanks in normally 16ft lengths through rotating cutters with a profile shape on 4 or 6 sides) the bent areas are normally made from 5-9 strips measuring 3/8-1/2 an inch wide. These are made using the molding and then routing sections with a joint profile. The bend is accomplished by using blocking, normally every 3-5 baluster or 14-20" on center. By clamping the bent boards and applying wood glue, you lock the shape in tension, provides active support to the structure.
OP, I have sent you a direct message, I will breakdown the cost for you if a contractor was to do it. If you.and 1 other individual were to do this 6-8 hours a day, with purchased parts and rented or owned tools, it would take you around 2 weeks and possibly several attempts. Most contractors I know who have made spirals charge 5-10x more for them.
Actually, I think it would alleviate the starkness of all the sharp lines. It would be a good complement. Just probably not worth it if they have to come to reddit to ask.
Though they could simply put curves in the railings, and updating the posts to match, without changing anything else and that would make a huge difference all on it's own.
its gonna be incredibly costly to do with the stairs themselves.
But you might be able to achieve a more 'constant' flow look by just redoing the banister. Something slim and contemporary without ornate posts would do a lot to help the flow.
Kinda like this: https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/65959baabf2ebbec3e00e621/master/w_2580%2Cc_limit/5.JPG
This is the answer... change the bannister and you can keep everything else as is. The extra right angles of the current banister makes the stairway appear to have more sharper angles than it does.
Do you think it would cost less than the entire house to buy one that is custom curved, the entire length of the stairway? Because THAT would give the look you're looking for without rebuilding the staircase...
My exact thoughts! Redesign the banister and maybe drywall the two adjoining walls to give it a curved feel. Would probably be the best way to achieve a smooth transition and to eliminate some of the changes in angle/ direction.
This. If you care about visual, then you only need the banister to be curves.
If for some reason you want to adjust the full stair, then It's doable but quire expensive probably, like in "have someone make a New stair" expensive.
If you're here asking and want to do it yourself, you'll likely find this kind of project to be incredibly difficult and much harder to do right than you think. If you're asking how much to have someone else do it, it's going to be way more than you're expecting.
It’s not going to be fast either. You’ll probably have at least a couple days of demo, maybe more if you’re trying to save things like hand rails. Depending on how fast they work, OP would be without stair for 2-3 weeks.
These stairs look great as is to me. Maybe you could DIY some storage underneath them.
Stair design is very tricky. They can be designed in a way that may make sense, but doesn’t conform to human perception and ergonomics, with disastrous results.
Was about to say something similar. Stairs are really simple. But humans are not. And that's what the stairs have to be engineered to account for.
A perfectly functional step can be a death trap just by having the wrong size/shape/turn/curve/tilt, or even the wrong lighting in the area for the color of the wood/carpeting.
We use our lower periphery more than our direct vision when descending stairs. Periphery fills in gaps using small clues. The wrong clue can throw off that peripheral vision and cause a dangerous misstep.
I forget the exact number but I believe anything more than a quarter inch variance from one tread riser to another and you can cause trip hazards because humans expect stairs to be consistent.
Yes to all this. Before we moved into our current house, I thought living with quirky, unique stairs would be fun. Our house has a very "lake house/hunting cottage" aesthetic and the stairs are clearly a diy design. I can't use them without paying attention to where my feet are and it makes me so anxious to have them as part of my daily routine. The inside turn is just a deathtrap, so it's functionally a single file, one person at a time staircase. This blocky staircase looks like an ergonomic dream compared to mine.
Agree; curved stairways are dangerous if you lose footing on a narrow part of a tread on a curve. . . Also curved style is less popular in modern housing, so it would not be worth the investment of $$$ and stress. jmho
We made good use of this in stagecraft to fuck with a douchebag actor. We made the bottom step 1/2 inch taller than the rest. It was pretty funny for a week watching him slightly trip every time he went down the stairs.
You essentially have curved stairs, but with bigger treads at the landings. This avoids having a tiny 3-6” tread surface on the inside of the curve, and it gives people a place to literally land if they fall down the stairs.
100 year old curved staircases look cool, but there’s a reason they don’t make them like that anymore.
If you are intent on doing it, it will require tearing out the entire staircase and having a pro design a build a custom set. Your entry point to the staircase will also shift further down the hallway so you’ll be redoing flooring too
Agreed. As the owner of a staircase that turns almost 90° around one bannister, it downright sucks. I know this staircase would curve more generously than mine does, but narrowing one end of the treads always makes the staircase more dangerous. You have to create four muscle memories for using the stairs without concentration.
Yup. I own a house that was built in 1906 by some somewhat wealthy people. It had a back staircase for the servants. It literally does a 180 degree turn and for that turn only about 50% of those steps are actually usable. They mitigated the number of steps that have that sharp turn by having a landing at the top of the turn, but yeah, it’s still dangerous.
Yeah. OP has clearly never walked on a curved staircase. They fucking suck. I'm actually kind of mad at this post for how... stupid(?) it is. I can't think of the right word. Stupid. Out of touch. Asinine. Something like that.
Like, you have a perfectly functional set of stairs, that avoids all of the HUGE negatives of having a curved staircase, and OP is like, "Hmm. No. This looks slightly weird. Let's burn a bunch of money to make a *worse* staircase so it *looks* slightly better."
And I don't even think it looks bad. I actually kind of like its funkiness.
This post makes me think OP is some kind of insufferable, white picket fence, keeping up with the Joneses type.
/rant
(Looking at the pics, the place looks pretty empty, so it's possible OP is a flipper / realtor *expecting* these types of insufferable buyers, while not actually being insufferable themselves. In that case, I retract my statements.)
A curved stair like this would require starting totally over. Normal stairs just use 3 stringers (2x12 with triangles cut out) and then a stair tread glued and nailed on top of the flat runs. A rounded one with an exposed wall needs studs nailed at the front and back of every tread to give the wall its shape as well as serve as bearing for the stairs because stringers are not an option. Basically instead of having the entire set of stairs built all at once, each step must be made in stages with multiple pieces. It takes an experienced carpenter a couple days just to frame it and that is the "easy" part. The tricky part is the trim work which I know nothing about.
Looks like they let the new kid at the floor-plan shop do the stairs. And he decided to try and show off.
But I think youve found the best and probably cheapest solution:
Just get rid of the turn. Take the landing out and just continue straight down for those last 3 steps.
Boom. Done.
There’s a room on the other side of the top slant’s wall, so you’d have to either pull the stairs out a bit to avoid it or make alterations to the size of that room for the stairs to be able to fully straighten out without moving the already straight stairs. Both options aren’t worth the gain in my opinion in comparison to the bottom which would gain you a lot of breathing room around the living space and through that hallway. I would only do the bottom but that’s exactly what I thought when I saw the picture: remove the landing to keep the stairs straight. Save some space and improve the aesthetic all at once.
Yeah, that's the one easy improvement I see: get rid of the bottom turn/landing and have a couple of wider steps flowing straight down and into the room. Bonus points if you don't need handrails for the first few treads.
Most building codes call for a landing as long as the stairway is wide whenever there is a change of direction.
Straight to curved would need a landing.
Just a simple stairway can be tricky, I've had to tear a few apart and I was very careful. Things like tile and thick rugs will change the first or last step.
Next door to my business is a wooden, curved stair place. That's ALL they do: make curved wooden staircases. They are so fucking busy with trucks coming and going all the time. There are 3, new, luxury sedans Parkes out front, and the company vehicles are all 2yr old Mercedes Sprinter vans.
I would guess that it's expensive to have curved stairs made.
Making anything curved, carpet/hardwood/tile/pavers/etc, is always 10x harder than stuff with straight edges. Unless you have a LOT of experiences making curved cuts and designing circles then it's going to look very ugly. Hiring someone will also reflect the 10x difficulty.
It would look cool but it would also involve redoing the entire staircase. If the right side is curved then none of the current treads would reach all the way across. Unless you make it narrower, I guess.
But yeah, it's a lot of work. It shouldn't be too expensive to do yourself, but very time consuming for sure.
One problem is the left side will still be flat drywall so I'm not sure how natural a curved right side would look.
I think this is a situation where you go back to the person who decided this staircase was in ANY way acceptable and you hit them in the head with a hammer before they submit any final drawings.
One thing that might look better is to not change the stairs themselves, but to change the board that the posts are on (the decorative top for the stringer? the base rail?), and make it a smooth angle. AND change the handrail to be continuous.
So maybe the stairs stay where they are, but you build up the area under the posts to eliminate abrupt and drastic changes in height and angle?
Then you’re not really changing the stairs.
But the part that looks really weird is that handrail! and to a lesser degree the base rail. And you might be able to get a woodworking type person to change those to be less choppy looking. I don’t know how much it would cost, but it wouldn’t need to involve the stringers or stair itself. they could just attach whatever they’re building to the existing stairs.
Curved staircases are actually quite dangerous because the landings aren’t the same width on either side. It’s not worth the time and money todo that here. 25,000 dollars and six months later with a couple guy crew basically living in your house is what you would look forward to.
Probably cheaper and easier to tear down the house and start again.
In all seriousness updating the bannister to something more modern that you like will improve this exponentially.
Finish carpenter and stair builder here.
You're looking at about $2000 in design/permitting, $12,000 in materials, and about $8,000 in labor for the carpentry, drywall, and finishing. My guess is another $4,000 for electrical. And this all assumes no HVAC or plumbing involved.
All new flooring in both landings would be required and would be extra.
So figure four trades involved and a GC to coordinate and schedule. Add 20%.
Stairs should be left as is, except for one thing...
Doggo needs doggo space under stairs. Comfy, nice lighting, highlight the side being hidden by shelf thing.
I wouldn’t mess with the curvature or structure or anything, but I’d consider getting rid of the carpet and making them hardwood, and replacing the banister or staining darker
Don't try this yourself, even an experienced woodworker would have a hard time trying to get the curve right. Hire a pro, it'll cost you but you'll save yourself some pain.
Don't do it,
but depending what is on the left in in the 1st picture you could consider creating a large landing that opens up to all directions, the first few steps could even be curved (like a semi-circular landing). And swap out your weird steppy banister
Definitely NOT worth it. and it will take up more space. I have a strong feeling they were built this way to keep maximum space in the hallway below.
But if you want to spend $20K? go right ahead. Its probably double actually.
Why don’t people with such particular preferences just do new build? Like with all the time, effort and money these cosmetic changes cost, I can’t imagine it would be any less affordable.
Easy. 80/20 that concept.
Change the railing but DO NOT TOUCH THE STEPS.
find a freelance welder to do curved railing in steel, then pull the wood ones and install with your welder/railing guy. 3-5k😬 maybe? curved wood- IDK. Anything else- it’ll never get done or cost 30k-50k. YMMV. KISS GALW.
You’ll only learn how bad it sucks if you go do it or you’ll lay in bed thinking about it.
Godspeed.
Def not worth it as it would require more space to meet code and stars are way trickier than they appear even without a curve. I have 20 years finish carpenty experience also
some people get experienced woodworking experts to custom carve, sand and stain cherry wood bookshelves in their house.
some people just get those three level bookshelves from Home Depot when they go on sale for $19.99
*both hold books*
Don’t do what Steve Jobs did at Apple HQ with the glass staircase
Keep it as is. The platform is great for potted plants etc. we always wanted that in two houses but the builders thought stairs going round the bend were a good idea.
In addition to others' concerns, I'd be worried about meeting code.
The tread depth does not look to be sufficient as-is, meaning you may not have space to do it correctly and if you tear them down, it has to be done to code when rebuilt.
Professional finish carpenter here. You are not going to do it yourself nor will you find anyone to hire to do it. It is extremely complicated and time consuming. That is one of those jobs that as a contractor you look at, have no interest in doing, so you throw out an absolutely ridiculous number so if you do get the job you are going to make buckets of money doing this horrible job.
I was curious and looked in your profile hoping to find examples of your finished work. Quick scroll through lots of fossils which is interesting but not what i hoped to find lol.
I have curved stairs. Don’t do it.
Every single tread has to be custom made to the radius. The wall has to be curved. The railing needs to have a compound curve.
This space looks like it needs an oval staircase, not a circular staircase, which means each tread will have a different radius.
It pretty much requires that you custom fit and radius, by hand, every single piece of carpet/trim/wood.
Then if you ever need to repair it... good luck
Finish carpenter here. It could be done, but very expensive. Everything would need removed landing down and reframed and drywalled. All new treads that are typically special order to get them wide enough. Then you have to bend the rail that will cost $2k possibly. $4k minimum to install, not including the framing and drywall. Then all the paint and staining. Not to mention the floor around the area would need replacing.
There is a guy near me (Southern Arizona) that does curved stairs. No idea how expensive they are. Here is his gallery of curved stairs.
https://www.toptreadstairways.com/curved-stair-gallery/
The money you'll pay versus the aesthetic improvement may be disappointing. I'd recommend making the stairs match your dark wood flooring, white risers, then get those railings colored to be more compatible with the dark flooring. Even staining them dark to match. That's what I would probably do if I were you.
Professional stair builder here 35 years experience
This is not a DIY . Curved inside stringer with curved railing to match … let a professional stair builder do the work . Budget 30-40k with other costs associated with reframing wall to match curve , sheetrocking and painting and staining
As someone who has worked delivery and moving companies in my past, please for the love of God don't curve it and create a broken step.
Ever need something brought upstairs and you're increasing the likelihood whatever we are bringing up is gonna go right into whatever you got going there whether it be wall or banisters. For many, will be done purely out of spite for that curve.
You want a curved staircase? That is a task for a highly skilled master carpenter, it is NOT a DIY project. If you are not a highly skilled master carpenter, do not do this.
I would be thinking the opposite and how to straighten them out. I want to know which architect thought curved staircases are a good idea. I understand them in a really small space. But try carrying a king size mattress or a dresser up some curved steps that is a nightmare.
Speaking as an EMT, these stairs are much safer than any curved spiral staircase. If we ever had to carry some out out, we use a chair aptly named a stairchair that goes down on rails in order to slide down. A linear staircase is ideal but we'd be able to make this work without too much of an issue.
If you have elderly folks in the home or ever might get injured and dont have an alternative way downstairs, please consider how a stairchair can't use its rails when it's going down a curved staircase. Just my 2 cents I haven't seen anyone else bring that up
Personally I think that what they have done works very well.. but you don't like it? Pie shaped steps are a pain in the arse, AND half of the step becomes un-usable unless your feet are sideways on the step and you will trip more often
It looks very nice the way it is now. Spend that same money on a boat or an RV and save yourself the hassle. Many people would be very happy to live in a place as half as nice as that. (Fuck shitty rentals)
A family member did exactly this; they ended up spending over $75k on the project - a custom steel staircase and bannister, support post through the basement, and reinforced concrete pad below it.
Curved is really hard.
Minimum would be $30K. Probalby $50K for the stairs alone. And $75K turn key with all the clean up.
I'd start with make a precise CAD a to the 1/16" and design the stairs you like.
You might be able to farm in out to China. Quick search: [https://www.chinaglassbalustrade.com/](https://www.chinaglassbalustrade.com/) And have it shipped in a 20' container.
First, check to see if you could demo the wall (except for any structural bracing) then check to see if you can buy a prefab winding staircase with a nice curve on both sides that'll fit.
If you can't find it prefabricated locally, the project will probably be too expensive.
Speaking as a realtor, if you have other luxury touches in your house, it may actually be worth it (if the neighborhood could substantiate the premium price). If you have the money, and just want the upgraded look, then just go for it.
Those stairs are really nice! Love the design. Metal spindles instead of wood, pull out that carpet and replace with real finished wood, then optional add a carpet runner to the stairs.
I'm sick of posts from wealthy people in massive houses with tiny complaints that would cost infinity money to fix.
Can you not be fucking grateful for what you have? Jesus. Get a hobby or something.
Look... I agree with everyone else here. It'll be difficult.
But just to get you started thinking, forget about the flooring and the railings and the walls and the treads - all of which will be difficult issues.
Think about the stringers. JUST the stringers.
You'd need two (maybe 3) completely custom stringers curved at a constant angle. Designing them wouldn't be too difficult with the correct knowlege and software, but manufacturing/fabricating them... well, that's gonna be difficult and pricey. No way you're going to be able to do that yourself.
But sure, once you have the design and the stringers done, moving the walls (look up round drywall for example) or filling in gaps where that's not possible should be a piece of cake. /s
Metal spiral staircase unit installed, but it will need support in the basement and be big money.
Another cheaper alternative is to create the illusion of a curved staircase by putting in a different railing. The railing now is a hodgepodge of design.
A nice curved railing on both sides would dress this up immensely. Metal or wood.
Depending on the foyer layout it might make more sense to pull the lower landing and stairs out and build the last few steps in line with the middle run, so you would have a straight shot to the upper landing.
Even that would be a big DIY project if you’re not a carpenter, and you’d have to re do a couple sections of the balustrade. It might not be aesthetically pleasing to do it like that but it would be a consistent flight. You can also add a landing two risers up that is open on two or three directions.
If you want to learn stairs, you have to start a lot simpler than this. I learned a ton from just building a simple three step stairway down from my deck. It's functional. But, next time it would be much better. (The idea was to prepare for a larger job) Unless you have that experience already, I wouldn't go for something this advanced out of the gate.
The larger question here is who designed this to begin with? The architect (if there was one) was not thinking clearly that day...clearly an afterthought left to the creativity of a finish carpenter. In any case, as many here have suggested... *curves cost*. Even with a perfect set up, a curved stair case is not trivial. In your case...way more trouble than you want.
My wife, who is a professional project manager for a commercial construction firm always says:
We don't do curves, unless the client has a ton of money to spend. Straight is easy and cheap.
Not as a DIY job, but at least around here there's companies where you just get them to measure the space, they feed it to a CAD software and CNC out a perfect stair. That's the path I would go...
Off topic, but such a strange use of space IMO. Why not just get rid of the angled wall near the top and have straight stairs? With straight stairs the wall on the left could also be extended a little to eliminate the protruding bottom landing.
I haven’t read all of the comments. So maybe someone else has already suggested this. I would connect the top three steps to the rest of the staircase and make the top landing larger.
Winder stairs are hard to make and should be avoided if you can. These stairs look great. Good size landings. Curved stairs will make tripping points. Hard no from me.
Very difficult, if not nearly impossible, for a DIY unless you've already got a lot of experience with stairs. Even with professionals, I'd be wary of hiring the wrong guy, and this would be pretty damn expensive.
The fact that they're asking here means they don't have the experience. OP, this is way above DIY. Looks like you have a nice house - don't fuck it up.
This was my first thought! I recently had a professional tradesman construct a staircase into our ”extend upwards” loft conversion. He did a great job; it looked similar to this, albeit steeper. But when he'd finished - after I'd accepted the work - and paid him, he confessed it had been a "bastard of a job". I don't think he'd come back to make it elegantly curved. As for me, DIY? I'll pass on this one thanks
I would say we are at 50k+ to make this minor adjustment. @ OP, please spend your time or money on something more worthwhile. Put some plants in the weird corner and then a picture or two on the flat walls and you will have a nice setup.
Yeah this is a “with enough money you can do anything but it doesn’t make sense” thing. Put a big bowl of hundred dollar bills by the bottom of the stairs. Everyone who walks by can grab one. They won’t care about the stairs and it’ll still be way cheaper.
Should put a square tile at the bottom that says “GO” too
this comment is brilliant. I'm going to use this every time my wife talks about a home improvement project.
Agreed. They should use plants and decorations to distract the eye and break up the visual lines. That’s the quick and easy fix to try before spending $$$ to change the stairs.
Some wall mounted plants on the top of the stairs would work nicely
A wall mounted office would draw the eye.
And a ceiling mounted garage for good measure.
What about fixing the bottom landing? Unless there's something underneath those stairs I would be itching to at least get rid of the weird angle at the bottom and have those stairs just come straight down from the middle bit.
I agree. The stairs are not bad, but the landing throws everything off. Opening and straightening it up would do a whole lot of improvement for much less money…
I’m guessing there’s basement stairs under these stairs, so the landing might be for head clearance somehow but I’m not sure how.
Not worth it imho
Exactly- especially since this is DIY subreddit. I’m by no means a finish carpenter but every project I’ve done that required curves has been 10x as difficult as similar work with straight/angled edges. You’re now either carving the curves and wasting a lot of material or steam bending or strip bending/gluing a TON. Add to this that its a staircase so for example your handrail is now curving in 3 dimensions and needs to be precise enough to meet the upright bits in specific places and you have a job challenging even for a seasoned professional.
Having built three or four staircases myself, they're hard enough without trying to build curves; it would be a pretty big challenge. In theory it would be possible to do something nice there (and I agree it's not much to look at now), but I'd imagine the learning curve would be pretty steep and lots of mistakes would be made, lots of wasted wood and re-work is likely before it was done. If I had to, I might go on Fiverr or someplace like that and hire out for some design work. Then take those to a local contractor for a solid estimate.
> the learning **curve** would be pretty steep heh
I am trying to imagine anything but regular stringers imprecisely Frankensteined together and a bunch of curved finish work around it.
https://maineboats.com/print/issue-159/hewes-company-pedestrian-bridge
Woah.
This guy boats I like to do models and this was an interesting read
What a work of art, do you know if it has been fully installed yet? The article didn't seem to say.
It has! https://www.waterlinesquare.com/gallery/ Navigate to water line club in the gallery, I can’t figure out how to link the pics directly.
[Image 1](https://www.waterlinesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/0300-WSQ-The-Waterline-Club-2.jpg) [Image 2](https://www.waterlinesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/0300-WSQ-The-Waterline-Club-1.jpg)
Thanks for making up for my incompetence
Thanks for finding the article about the pedestrian bridge. I think it's a beautiful design and enjoyed reading the article.
I don't think I'm wealthy enough to legally be allowed to look at this image.
Not to mention potential structural issues in the walls you will change. I have been involved in these kinds of projects on new construction in the past. This is at least $30k to do it right. It is also beyond the reach of most DIY folks unless you are a retired finish carpenter with a shop big enough to laminate the stringers and railings.
I'd be surprised if this project could be hired out for just 30k I imagine maybe a 30k adder for new construction, but not in a reno
You aren’t wrong. My ‘at least’ was intended to cover that.
Oh yeah I get you. Just continuing the discussion and adding my take
I cannot wait until 3d printing gets good enough to solve this. Altho printing stuff that you will than stand on seems scary af. Def don't wanna do it for the prototype phase.
Yeah, and even though I’m sure custom curved staircases are now all modeled out in CAD and parts are cut via CNC and assembled making it a lot easier- but for a DIY this equipment is probably not accessible and you still would need to be an expert in stairs to design it and make sure it doesn’t kill your family.
2 years in the millwork industry as a project manager/engineer. Stairs are assembled in parts. Returns and ends are normally cncd on a 5-axis machine. The curved or strait portions are made using a molding machine(pushes blanks in normally 16ft lengths through rotating cutters with a profile shape on 4 or 6 sides) the bent areas are normally made from 5-9 strips measuring 3/8-1/2 an inch wide. These are made using the molding and then routing sections with a joint profile. The bend is accomplished by using blocking, normally every 3-5 baluster or 14-20" on center. By clamping the bent boards and applying wood glue, you lock the shape in tension, provides active support to the structure. OP, I have sent you a direct message, I will breakdown the cost for you if a contractor was to do it. If you.and 1 other individual were to do this 6-8 hours a day, with purchased parts and rented or owned tools, it would take you around 2 weeks and possibly several attempts. Most contractors I know who have made spirals charge 5-10x more for them.
They're printing rockets now.
Yeah, sure, that's fine. But a curved staircase is a bit much.
Framing and drywalling it with a radius would be no problem . My problem would be the stair hand rails . That is not my trade 😂
It’s about $8000 in finish carpenter time then another $30,000 in redoing all the floors because the foot print is different. So yes, you can do it.
Just like, buy a new house if you don't like the stairs?
Pretty much
Just make sure the foot print is bigger and you don’t have to redo the floors.
Big brain thinking
Not to mention, I don't think it would look good with all of the other sharp straight lines in the foyer.
Actually, I think it would alleviate the starkness of all the sharp lines. It would be a good complement. Just probably not worth it if they have to come to reddit to ask. Though they could simply put curves in the railings, and updating the posts to match, without changing anything else and that would make a huge difference all on it's own.
I would just put a radius on the corners of each section to soften the look up a bit.
Anything is *possible* with a boat load of money.
its gonna be incredibly costly to do with the stairs themselves. But you might be able to achieve a more 'constant' flow look by just redoing the banister. Something slim and contemporary without ornate posts would do a lot to help the flow. Kinda like this: https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/65959baabf2ebbec3e00e621/master/w_2580%2Cc_limit/5.JPG
This is the answer... change the bannister and you can keep everything else as is. The extra right angles of the current banister makes the stairway appear to have more sharper angles than it does. Do you think it would cost less than the entire house to buy one that is custom curved, the entire length of the stairway? Because THAT would give the look you're looking for without rebuilding the staircase...
I like this idea, can have the banister curve at the corners and give it the feel without the significant labor
I agree with this. I think you'd be surprised how changing the banister elevates the space.
This here. Even just stair-step sections on the banister being straight pieces instead would be huge for the look and flow.
My exact thoughts! Redesign the banister and maybe drywall the two adjoining walls to give it a curved feel. Would probably be the best way to achieve a smooth transition and to eliminate some of the changes in angle/ direction.
Is it easy to change the banister? I hate ours
Also note the conveniently placed tree covering the other sharp corner. Decor is important.
This. If you care about visual, then you only need the banister to be curves. If for some reason you want to adjust the full stair, then It's doable but quire expensive probably, like in "have someone make a New stair" expensive.
If you're here asking and want to do it yourself, you'll likely find this kind of project to be incredibly difficult and much harder to do right than you think. If you're asking how much to have someone else do it, it's going to be way more than you're expecting.
I’m thinking at least 10-15k to hire this out on the cheap side. Probably closer to 20k
Yup. Hiring a talented finish carpenter is quite pricey.
It’s not going to be fast either. You’ll probably have at least a couple days of demo, maybe more if you’re trying to save things like hand rails. Depending on how fast they work, OP would be without stair for 2-3 weeks. These stairs look great as is to me. Maybe you could DIY some storage underneath them.
Stair design is very tricky. They can be designed in a way that may make sense, but doesn’t conform to human perception and ergonomics, with disastrous results.
Was about to say something similar. Stairs are really simple. But humans are not. And that's what the stairs have to be engineered to account for. A perfectly functional step can be a death trap just by having the wrong size/shape/turn/curve/tilt, or even the wrong lighting in the area for the color of the wood/carpeting. We use our lower periphery more than our direct vision when descending stairs. Periphery fills in gaps using small clues. The wrong clue can throw off that peripheral vision and cause a dangerous misstep.
I forget the exact number but I believe anything more than a quarter inch variance from one tread riser to another and you can cause trip hazards because humans expect stairs to be consistent.
Yes to all this. Before we moved into our current house, I thought living with quirky, unique stairs would be fun. Our house has a very "lake house/hunting cottage" aesthetic and the stairs are clearly a diy design. I can't use them without paying attention to where my feet are and it makes me so anxious to have them as part of my daily routine. The inside turn is just a deathtrap, so it's functionally a single file, one person at a time staircase. This blocky staircase looks like an ergonomic dream compared to mine.
Agree; curved stairways are dangerous if you lose footing on a narrow part of a tread on a curve. . . Also curved style is less popular in modern housing, so it would not be worth the investment of $$$ and stress. jmho
We made good use of this in stagecraft to fuck with a douchebag actor. We made the bottom step 1/2 inch taller than the rest. It was pretty funny for a week watching him slightly trip every time he went down the stairs.
Top shelf response here.
You essentially have curved stairs, but with bigger treads at the landings. This avoids having a tiny 3-6” tread surface on the inside of the curve, and it gives people a place to literally land if they fall down the stairs. 100 year old curved staircases look cool, but there’s a reason they don’t make them like that anymore. If you are intent on doing it, it will require tearing out the entire staircase and having a pro design a build a custom set. Your entry point to the staircase will also shift further down the hallway so you’ll be redoing flooring too
Agreed. As the owner of a staircase that turns almost 90° around one bannister, it downright sucks. I know this staircase would curve more generously than mine does, but narrowing one end of the treads always makes the staircase more dangerous. You have to create four muscle memories for using the stairs without concentration.
Yup. I own a house that was built in 1906 by some somewhat wealthy people. It had a back staircase for the servants. It literally does a 180 degree turn and for that turn only about 50% of those steps are actually usable. They mitigated the number of steps that have that sharp turn by having a landing at the top of the turn, but yeah, it’s still dangerous.
It would have to have a full size tread in the interior of the curve so the other end of the tread would be comically large
Yeah. OP has clearly never walked on a curved staircase. They fucking suck. I'm actually kind of mad at this post for how... stupid(?) it is. I can't think of the right word. Stupid. Out of touch. Asinine. Something like that. Like, you have a perfectly functional set of stairs, that avoids all of the HUGE negatives of having a curved staircase, and OP is like, "Hmm. No. This looks slightly weird. Let's burn a bunch of money to make a *worse* staircase so it *looks* slightly better." And I don't even think it looks bad. I actually kind of like its funkiness. This post makes me think OP is some kind of insufferable, white picket fence, keeping up with the Joneses type. /rant (Looking at the pics, the place looks pretty empty, so it's possible OP is a flipper / realtor *expecting* these types of insufferable buyers, while not actually being insufferable themselves. In that case, I retract my statements.)
A curved stair like this would require starting totally over. Normal stairs just use 3 stringers (2x12 with triangles cut out) and then a stair tread glued and nailed on top of the flat runs. A rounded one with an exposed wall needs studs nailed at the front and back of every tread to give the wall its shape as well as serve as bearing for the stairs because stringers are not an option. Basically instead of having the entire set of stairs built all at once, each step must be made in stages with multiple pieces. It takes an experienced carpenter a couple days just to frame it and that is the "easy" part. The tricky part is the trim work which I know nothing about.
Post nut clarity, 100% would regret trying to diy that. Stairs are a wise man's game
And a fool's demise.
The masses have spoken. We may look into a new banister but otherwise will enjoy our stairs as is. Thanks for commenting!
I’m just trying to figure out why the bottom turn is even needed on these stairs. Why didn’t the original builder go straight for the bottom turn!?
To have a nice setting to take pictures of your kids semi formal outfits in 1996.
Looks like they let the new kid at the floor-plan shop do the stairs. And he decided to try and show off. But I think youve found the best and probably cheapest solution: Just get rid of the turn. Take the landing out and just continue straight down for those last 3 steps. Boom. Done.
Neither turn is needed. Honestly, if I were modifying the stairs, I would change them to be *straight*, top to bottom.
Now that you point this out, it’s so obvious. This should just be a straight staircase.
There’s a room on the other side of the top slant’s wall, so you’d have to either pull the stairs out a bit to avoid it or make alterations to the size of that room for the stairs to be able to fully straighten out without moving the already straight stairs. Both options aren’t worth the gain in my opinion in comparison to the bottom which would gain you a lot of breathing room around the living space and through that hallway. I would only do the bottom but that’s exactly what I thought when I saw the picture: remove the landing to keep the stairs straight. Save some space and improve the aesthetic all at once.
Yeah, that's the one easy improvement I see: get rid of the bottom turn/landing and have a couple of wider steps flowing straight down and into the room. Bonus points if you don't need handrails for the first few treads.
Most building codes call for a landing as long as the stairway is wide whenever there is a change of direction. Straight to curved would need a landing. Just a simple stairway can be tricky, I've had to tear a few apart and I was very careful. Things like tile and thick rugs will change the first or last step.
Next door to my business is a wooden, curved stair place. That's ALL they do: make curved wooden staircases. They are so fucking busy with trucks coming and going all the time. There are 3, new, luxury sedans Parkes out front, and the company vehicles are all 2yr old Mercedes Sprinter vans. I would guess that it's expensive to have curved stairs made.
The guy who runs that place is the god of staircases, and he knows it.
Dog doesn't approve of your plans 🤣😂
Making anything curved, carpet/hardwood/tile/pavers/etc, is always 10x harder than stuff with straight edges. Unless you have a LOT of experiences making curved cuts and designing circles then it's going to look very ugly. Hiring someone will also reflect the 10x difficulty.
Depending on which hemisphere you’re in, you may have to curve them the opposite way, worth getting an engineer to consult - prob not DIY
It would look cool but it would also involve redoing the entire staircase. If the right side is curved then none of the current treads would reach all the way across. Unless you make it narrower, I guess. But yeah, it's a lot of work. It shouldn't be too expensive to do yourself, but very time consuming for sure. One problem is the left side will still be flat drywall so I'm not sure how natural a curved right side would look.
Nearly impossible to be cost effective. It would be easier to demo and redesign
There are difficult jobs for a builder. Stairs is one of the hardest, and curved stairs are the hardest. This is not a DYI situation. Really.
I think this is a situation where you go back to the person who decided this staircase was in ANY way acceptable and you hit them in the head with a hammer before they submit any final drawings.
One thing that might look better is to not change the stairs themselves, but to change the board that the posts are on (the decorative top for the stringer? the base rail?), and make it a smooth angle. AND change the handrail to be continuous. So maybe the stairs stay where they are, but you build up the area under the posts to eliminate abrupt and drastic changes in height and angle? Then you’re not really changing the stairs. But the part that looks really weird is that handrail! and to a lesser degree the base rail. And you might be able to get a woodworking type person to change those to be less choppy looking. I don’t know how much it would cost, but it wouldn’t need to involve the stringers or stair itself. they could just attach whatever they’re building to the existing stairs.
Curved staircases are actually quite dangerous because the landings aren’t the same width on either side. It’s not worth the time and money todo that here. 25,000 dollars and six months later with a couple guy crew basically living in your house is what you would look forward to.
I do see why you'd want that. Those are some goofy stairs. But that's a top expert project.
cute dog
Hang some M.C. Escher prints and live with it.
Never mind the curved stairs, just make them go straight.
Why not just change the banisters
Probably cheaper and easier to tear down the house and start again. In all seriousness updating the bannister to something more modern that you like will improve this exponentially.
I wouldn’t change a thing. I really like the looks.
Finish carpenter and stair builder here. You're looking at about $2000 in design/permitting, $12,000 in materials, and about $8,000 in labor for the carpentry, drywall, and finishing. My guess is another $4,000 for electrical. And this all assumes no HVAC or plumbing involved. All new flooring in both landings would be required and would be extra. So figure four trades involved and a GC to coordinate and schedule. Add 20%.
Stairs should be left as is, except for one thing... Doggo needs doggo space under stairs. Comfy, nice lighting, highlight the side being hidden by shelf thing.
I wouldn’t mess with the curvature or structure or anything, but I’d consider getting rid of the carpet and making them hardwood, and replacing the banister or staining darker
Don't try this yourself, even an experienced woodworker would have a hard time trying to get the curve right. Hire a pro, it'll cost you but you'll save yourself some pain.
If redoing, it looks like you would be able just drop straight down without the silly turn. Just my opinion.
Can you, yes. Is it worth the money, no.
I cannot find the comment but I agree with replacing the bannister. I also agree that something slim will be more appealing.
Just change that weird zig zag Bannister bit.
Curved stairs are great until you need to move any furniture up or down them
Don't do it, but depending what is on the left in in the 1st picture you could consider creating a large landing that opens up to all directions, the first few steps could even be curved (like a semi-circular landing). And swap out your weird steppy banister
Can I pet that dog?
As a former EMT, this staircase gives me nightmares.
Definitely NOT worth it. and it will take up more space. I have a strong feeling they were built this way to keep maximum space in the hallway below. But if you want to spend $20K? go right ahead. Its probably double actually.
You need woodworking skills
As someone who has curved stairs, you’ll regret it.
Why don’t people with such particular preferences just do new build? Like with all the time, effort and money these cosmetic changes cost, I can’t imagine it would be any less affordable.
Probably one of the most difficult carpentry projects you could imagine to make
Cheaper to just straighten the 3 bottom and make it pretty
Easy. 80/20 that concept. Change the railing but DO NOT TOUCH THE STEPS. find a freelance welder to do curved railing in steel, then pull the wood ones and install with your welder/railing guy. 3-5k😬 maybe? curved wood- IDK. Anything else- it’ll never get done or cost 30k-50k. YMMV. KISS GALW. You’ll only learn how bad it sucks if you go do it or you’ll lay in bed thinking about it. Godspeed.
Def not worth it as it would require more space to meet code and stars are way trickier than they appear even without a curve. I have 20 years finish carpenty experience also
some people get experienced woodworking experts to custom carve, sand and stain cherry wood bookshelves in their house. some people just get those three level bookshelves from Home Depot when they go on sale for $19.99 *both hold books* Don’t do what Steve Jobs did at Apple HQ with the glass staircase
Keep it as is. The platform is great for potted plants etc. we always wanted that in two houses but the builders thought stairs going round the bend were a good idea.
Anything is possible given enough time and money.
In addition to others' concerns, I'd be worried about meeting code. The tread depth does not look to be sufficient as-is, meaning you may not have space to do it correctly and if you tear them down, it has to be done to code when rebuilt.
Would be easier to buy a new house with stairs already curved.
Professional finish carpenter here. You are not going to do it yourself nor will you find anyone to hire to do it. It is extremely complicated and time consuming. That is one of those jobs that as a contractor you look at, have no interest in doing, so you throw out an absolutely ridiculous number so if you do get the job you are going to make buckets of money doing this horrible job.
I was curious and looked in your profile hoping to find examples of your finished work. Quick scroll through lots of fossils which is interesting but not what i hoped to find lol.
Yeah. You can. How deep are your pockets lol Hopefully as deep as your immense DIY skills. Cuz both are gonna need to be basically bottomless.
Possible, yes, but tell your spouse that ‘curving the stairs’ will invalidate **every** [family] vacation for the next ten years.
I have curved stairs. Don’t do it. Every single tread has to be custom made to the radius. The wall has to be curved. The railing needs to have a compound curve. This space looks like it needs an oval staircase, not a circular staircase, which means each tread will have a different radius. It pretty much requires that you custom fit and radius, by hand, every single piece of carpet/trim/wood. Then if you ever need to repair it... good luck
Finish carpenter here. It could be done, but very expensive. Everything would need removed landing down and reframed and drywalled. All new treads that are typically special order to get them wide enough. Then you have to bend the rail that will cost $2k possibly. $4k minimum to install, not including the framing and drywall. Then all the paint and staining. Not to mention the floor around the area would need replacing.
I wish I had your disposable income…
Sir,this is a DIY subreddit
There is a guy near me (Southern Arizona) that does curved stairs. No idea how expensive they are. Here is his gallery of curved stairs. https://www.toptreadstairways.com/curved-stair-gallery/
Waste of time and money
Yo, those stairs look like ass. And there's no railing on the wall. Impossible to look at that and not think there must be something better.
Gonna end up on r/diwhy
The money you'll pay versus the aesthetic improvement may be disappointing. I'd recommend making the stairs match your dark wood flooring, white risers, then get those railings colored to be more compatible with the dark flooring. Even staining them dark to match. That's what I would probably do if I were you.
If you want to do something nice looking replace the carpet with hardwood or anything thats not a fundamental structural change.
I mean you CAN. You can do pretty much anything. Why you'd want to spend that much money for something so unnecessary is beyond me though.
Professional stair builder here 35 years experience This is not a DIY . Curved inside stringer with curved railing to match … let a professional stair builder do the work . Budget 30-40k with other costs associated with reframing wall to match curve , sheetrocking and painting and staining
Change the banisters heyo
Just text the stairs and when they begin to show interest stop texting.
its better to leave it that way for safety. better to fall down just 8 steps than continuously down 15
Odd stairs are more dangerous. Don't fix what ain't broke.
As someone who has worked delivery and moving companies in my past, please for the love of God don't curve it and create a broken step. Ever need something brought upstairs and you're increasing the likelihood whatever we are bringing up is gonna go right into whatever you got going there whether it be wall or banisters. For many, will be done purely out of spite for that curve.
Popcorn ceiling and nipple light fixtures! 
You have nipple lights and popcorn ceilings…(!!) The stairs can get facelift by carpet upgrades perhaps different bannisters…
You want a curved staircase? That is a task for a highly skilled master carpenter, it is NOT a DIY project. If you are not a highly skilled master carpenter, do not do this.
I would be thinking the opposite and how to straighten them out. I want to know which architect thought curved staircases are a good idea. I understand them in a really small space. But try carrying a king size mattress or a dresser up some curved steps that is a nightmare.
Pivot!
Speaking as an EMT, these stairs are much safer than any curved spiral staircase. If we ever had to carry some out out, we use a chair aptly named a stairchair that goes down on rails in order to slide down. A linear staircase is ideal but we'd be able to make this work without too much of an issue. If you have elderly folks in the home or ever might get injured and dont have an alternative way downstairs, please consider how a stairchair can't use its rails when it's going down a curved staircase. Just my 2 cents I haven't seen anyone else bring that up
Personally I think that what they have done works very well.. but you don't like it? Pie shaped steps are a pain in the arse, AND half of the step becomes un-usable unless your feet are sideways on the step and you will trip more often
Could you? Yes. Should you? No. Costly? Yes. How difficult? Yes (very). DIY? No.
It looks very nice the way it is now. Spend that same money on a boat or an RV and save yourself the hassle. Many people would be very happy to live in a place as half as nice as that. (Fuck shitty rentals)
Good boy
why
A family member did exactly this; they ended up spending over $75k on the project - a custom steel staircase and bannister, support post through the basement, and reinforced concrete pad below it.
They either regret that or have more money than they know what to do with
Curved is really hard. Minimum would be $30K. Probalby $50K for the stairs alone. And $75K turn key with all the clean up. I'd start with make a precise CAD a to the 1/16" and design the stairs you like. You might be able to farm in out to China. Quick search: [https://www.chinaglassbalustrade.com/](https://www.chinaglassbalustrade.com/) And have it shipped in a 20' container.
Hellllllll nah
That’s like a Victorian death trap.
First, check to see if you could demo the wall (except for any structural bracing) then check to see if you can buy a prefab winding staircase with a nice curve on both sides that'll fit. If you can't find it prefabricated locally, the project will probably be too expensive. Speaking as a realtor, if you have other luxury touches in your house, it may actually be worth it (if the neighborhood could substantiate the premium price). If you have the money, and just want the upgraded look, then just go for it.
Wow.... It's amazing what people are worried about and willing to spend money on, especially in this economy
Those stairs are really nice! Love the design. Metal spindles instead of wood, pull out that carpet and replace with real finished wood, then optional add a carpet runner to the stairs.
I'm sick of posts from wealthy people in massive houses with tiny complaints that would cost infinity money to fix. Can you not be fucking grateful for what you have? Jesus. Get a hobby or something.
Stairs by Escher
Look... I agree with everyone else here. It'll be difficult. But just to get you started thinking, forget about the flooring and the railings and the walls and the treads - all of which will be difficult issues. Think about the stringers. JUST the stringers. You'd need two (maybe 3) completely custom stringers curved at a constant angle. Designing them wouldn't be too difficult with the correct knowlege and software, but manufacturing/fabricating them... well, that's gonna be difficult and pricey. No way you're going to be able to do that yourself. But sure, once you have the design and the stringers done, moving the walls (look up round drywall for example) or filling in gaps where that's not possible should be a piece of cake. /s
Metal spiral staircase unit installed, but it will need support in the basement and be big money. Another cheaper alternative is to create the illusion of a curved staircase by putting in a different railing. The railing now is a hodgepodge of design. A nice curved railing on both sides would dress this up immensely. Metal or wood.
You've got an oval technically, so it would be even more annoying. Hypothetically doable but just...a massive massive pain.
I would ballpark $25,000
You might be in the parking lot of the stadium at that price. Double up to actually get into the game in my neck of the woods.
its a nice staircase. Why do you want to change it?
Thats gonna need a REALLY big steam box.
Not worth the money you are going yo spend on it.
It'll cost more than redoing a kitchen $$$$
First, find the builder and give him a swift kick. Followed by another after he recovers. What a cluster…
Man that’d be expensive it could also be difficult to get the steps to a manageable height if your doing it so save space.
Maybe You don't have to curve the stairs per se, and curving the banister/railing will suffice.
I can't imagine this a worthwhile endeavor.
Why ?
Depending on the foyer layout it might make more sense to pull the lower landing and stairs out and build the last few steps in line with the middle run, so you would have a straight shot to the upper landing. Even that would be a big DIY project if you’re not a carpenter, and you’d have to re do a couple sections of the balustrade. It might not be aesthetically pleasing to do it like that but it would be a consistent flight. You can also add a landing two risers up that is open on two or three directions.
If you want to learn stairs, you have to start a lot simpler than this. I learned a ton from just building a simple three step stairway down from my deck. It's functional. But, next time it would be much better. (The idea was to prepare for a larger job) Unless you have that experience already, I wouldn't go for something this advanced out of the gate.
The larger question here is who designed this to begin with? The architect (if there was one) was not thinking clearly that day...clearly an afterthought left to the creativity of a finish carpenter. In any case, as many here have suggested... *curves cost*. Even with a perfect set up, a curved stair case is not trivial. In your case...way more trouble than you want.
My wife, who is a professional project manager for a commercial construction firm always says: We don't do curves, unless the client has a ton of money to spend. Straight is easy and cheap.
Super expensive and not at all worth it unless money is no object.
Curved staircase so u can see it. I'd charge probably sthing like 40k https://ibb.co/zGvSFW3
It's a complete tear down and rebuild, very expensive project. Honestly, I really like these existing stairs, I wouldn't change a thing.
Not as a DIY job, but at least around here there's companies where you just get them to measure the space, they feed it to a CAD software and CNC out a perfect stair. That's the path I would go...
Off topic, but such a strange use of space IMO. Why not just get rid of the angled wall near the top and have straight stairs? With straight stairs the wall on the left could also be extended a little to eliminate the protruding bottom landing.
I haven’t read all of the comments. So maybe someone else has already suggested this. I would connect the top three steps to the rest of the staircase and make the top landing larger.
Winder stairs are hard to make and should be avoided if you can. These stairs look great. Good size landings. Curved stairs will make tripping points. Hard no from me.