Designed Stairs

The 1939 film “Gone With The Wind” features four beautiful staircases that have come to define the elegance, grace and grandeur of interior stair design.

One of the most popular staircases in movie history is the red carpeted stair within the opulent Butler Mansion, on which Scarlett O’Hara sits in the final scene.

The staircase is a straight stair with 23 treads and 24 risers. It is approx.12 ft. wide and features an ornate balustrade of William and Mary architecture. The ornate panels inset below the handrail are hand-carved wood with a pattern that is similar to the carving on the newel posts.The massive handrails were made from several pieces and have height of nearly 12 inches. Each of the four newels are approx. 12″ wide and the top caps form a pedestal for a light fixture at each location. At the top of the stair, there are horizontal rail sections that form an overlook to the foyer on the left and the right.

This elaborate stair case was designed by Lyle Wheeler who won an Academy Award for his design work on the 90 sets and 50 full size buildings used in the movie. The stair was built on a Holly wood sound stage and torn down as soon as filming was completed. Little is known about the craftsmen that built one of America’s most amazing staircases.

No one designs a curved staircase for the simple purpose of getting from one floor to another; there are other, much more practical ways of getting that done if you don’t care what it looks like.

A curved staircase is an enduring statement of elegance and one of the most functional pieces of art in the realm of human design. If elegance is what you are after, there are a few keys that will get you there.

First, will be the proper placement of the staircase into the structure, which should be addressed at the earliest stages of design work. How will the staircase effect spaces immediately surrounding it? How will the stair be viewed from the entry to the home or from the side through adjoining rooms? Does the staircase offer a welcoming angle at the base and have a stunning angle of ascent to the second floor above?

Second, is the allowance of space. If the proper amount of room is not considered to allow a stair to be built with geometric consistency and adherence to proper safety codes, even the most knowledgeable stair designer will not be able to deliver the elegance you had envisioned.

The third key to a “knock-out” curved stair design will the “Design Details” that you choose to add to the solid geometry of the staircase. The styling of your handrail, newels and balusters will be critical to the finish feel that the stair portrays, and the inclusion of over-sized starting treads, descending volutes, bowed tread noses and other design details will help push it over the top.

1. Seek a Full Time Experienced Stair Builder

Experience can’t be overrated. You don’t want an excellent handyman trying to build your stair. How many years experience does their designer have? How many years install experience does the installer have?

2. Request References

When asking for references, ask for one in your town. Do they know the building codes for stairs in your town? Can you look at a similar type of job, something that would demonstrate they can handle your job.

3. Make sure they can be easily reached!

A truck and a cell phone does not mean they will be found next week, or even be around to finish the job. Do they have a permanent location – a shop and a showroom?

4. Are they on their own, or part of a team?

It is nearly always beneficial to use a firm with at least a few people. The old phrase; jack of all trades, master of none….. It’s hard to find one person who is good at selling, customer service, technically detailed and a good craftsman. You may be talking to a great salesperson – but can they build a stair? Odds are, working with a team will give you a higher degree of quality overall.

5. Do they have a woodworking shop?

Shop fabrication of your stair will give you a much better fit of the joints and construction. A carpenter building a stair on site with hand-tools simply can’t get the precision fit that a woodworking shop can.

6. Get commitments clear.

They should be offering you a written estimate. If every detail isn’t spelt out – add your own notes on the contract. If there is a problem or misunderstanding later, it will be too late. Making additional notes can simply make expectations clearer and better communicated.

I have ugly carpeted stairs, and I want to the look of a nice hardwood custom made stair. Should I cover my existing stair with hardwood or replace with new stairs?

First consider how old your existing stairs are. If you have fairly new pine stairs under your carpet, the moisture content in your pine lumber will be higher than it will be in the hardwood. The woods dry differently. When a wood with a higher moisture content is covered with a dryer wood, it creates a high probability that it will develop squeaks.

Fitting hardwood stair parts to an existing stair can be laborious. There are about 30 pieces in a basic stair alone. This will likely result in over 100 cuts from prepping to installation. Keep in mind it’s harder to make a non-square cut to fit something existing than to make a good/new square cut.

The cost of buying the hardwood stair parts will be essentially the same as buying parts for a new stair. The main difference is the labor of fitting them onto an existing stair or building a new stair. There may not be a savings to cover existing vs a new stair.

Last, but certainly not least is quality. A new custom built hardwood stair will likely have better joinery and fit. It allows you the opportunity to use new routed stringers and have your treads and risers tightly wedged into them. A method of measurably better construction.

Price out both methods and compare all facts to make an educated cost decision.

I have a nice custom oak stair, but it looks out of date, and I’m not sure I like the oak anymore; should I refinish, or replace?

If you are starting with a good quality product, stripping it will likely be a more affordable than replacing.

When it comes to updating there is always a lot you can do with (re)finishing.

If you are tired of the graininess of oak, think about going with a very dark color on the treads. The dark stain will hide much of the grain. We recently ‘painted’ oak treads black for a dramatic trendy look, then clear-coated them for durability.

Consider changing the balusters to a new up-to-date metal look. The balusters alone will give you an entirely new look. Another popular trend is the trimmed (square box type) newels. Changing newels will involve a bit more cost and labor (than balusters), but can add to the dramatic updated look

When remodeling your stairs you should know that it IS a full-fledged remodeling project, not a Saturday afternoon DYI project.

Your stair has been installed into the structure of your home. Removing and replacing your stair can be as involved as remodeling your kitchen or bath. The process may involve drywall work, some additional framing. The process can be messy and inconvenient.

Three reminders to make your stair remodel project run more smoothly.

1. Plan ahead. Prior to removing anything, have your entire stair plan figured out in detail.

How will you get upstairs?
Will your headroom change?
Will you need to change framing?
Is the new design is fully calculated and every design detail finalized?
Are Materials and labor fully planned and available?
It may be best to have materials precut to some extent to limit the time of construction.
2. Protect what you’re not changing. Cover up the floor nearby. Remove pictures on both sides of the walls. Cutting can create a lot of dust. Treat the area like a construction zone!

3. Be ready for the unexpected. When the stair is pulled out, who knows what you’ll find. There may be plumbing, heating, or electric under the stair that needs to be moved. Plan ahead as to how you will handle moving those items if required?

The Nathanial Russell House(1808) in historic Charleston, SC features two of the most noted curved staircases in the world.

The two curved staircases are “freestanding” (no supporting walls beneath the stairs) and rise from the first floor to the 3rd floor in a counter-clockwise direction offering a continuous handrail on the left hand side as you ascend.

The stair construction is notable in that there are no structural stringers (main support members) used. Each tread and riser section are fastened to a framed box made from Southern Yellow Pine, and each box is offset (cantilevered) and bolted to the box beneath it; the top and bottom box are bolted the either floor. Beneath the joined frame boxes, another curved frame member is attached so that there is a place to attach the lath and plaster to the backside of the stair. The sides of this framing were then covered with plaster and painted to resemble stringers.

Restoration work was undertaken in 1955 and the staircases had sagged up to 4″ in the centers.

The plaster backing was removed in an attempt to tighten up the framing, but both stairs ended up being bolted into the walls via metal brackets to hold them up.

The handrail is also a curiosity to modern stair designers as the sides of the rail are made from a bendable trim piece and the top is cut from many short sections that are pieced together to create the curve.

The design is elliptical in nature and not built to a radius. The finished line of these stairs are evidence of near perfect geometry and the flow is one of the best I have seen. In spite of the unusual construction, these truly are amazing stairs.

See more Amazing Stairs!