Can anyone help me please. My husband is renovating our little house to turn it into a gite, and he wants to put in one of those standard Bricomarche stairs, with the little turn at the bottom. Does anyone know if it is possible to cut the stairs down a little, so that is fits in as desired, rather than having to raise the floor upstairs, or dig down further downstairs? I very much apprecaite any comments. Thank you. Donna
you will find on a new staircase the bottom can be cut ,they are useually long son it can be built into the floor screed , but as all have said if its not to saftey/building standared youre looking for trouble X
Thank you everyone for your help. I am going to show your suggestions to my husband this evening, so I may need to ask a few more questions, but I really do appreciate all your help. My husband is doing up our gite, and has done a fantastic job, but he has never put in a staircase before, and he does not want to muck it up. We have just removed all the stones from the floor, so he is now going to do all the insulation, leveling etc, and he is trying to work out if he needs to raise the floor level, lower it etc, and what is possible with the stairs. Well I think that is the situation anyway, it all looks way to complicated for me :). thanks again everyone, and look forward to speaking to you all again soon. bye for now. Donna
Hi Donna
Depending on how much you need to remove the best way would be to remove from the top and the bottom, minimising the difference. If its more than half a step, you should compensate with some form of platform at the bottom and as Terry say, if it’s large enough it will be seen.
Do you have the staircase model and the height from floor to floor. I could do a drawing for you on Autocad if that would help.
Stuart
I put in similar stairs many years ago. They were a few inches too short leaving me with a big step at the bottom. As Hilary suggests, I made a plinth which fills the gap and keeps the stairs level. It’s much wider and deeper than an ordinary stair so is quite distinct and in all these years no-one has ever tripped. Doubt the same would have been true if I’d left a bigger step at the bottom. The same would apply for a lower step as would be your case if you just lopped a couple of inches off the length either top or bottom. And don’t forget that if you’re renting it out you’d almost certainly be liable for any accidents which could be attributed to the stairs not being “conforme” which could be costly.
Hi yes you can cut either end to make fit just be careful that you only cut a little at a time or you could end up with them being to short also make sure tha they sit level use a couple of spirit levels don’t rely on just the one and finally I fitted one of these staircases about four years ago and I re glued and screwed each stair and they have lasted fine no movement at all no squeaking or creaking
hope that helps
best of luck
steve
Hi Donna - cutting down the top or bottom stair to make it fit could create a serious hazard - when you use stairs or steps, you register, in your mind, the height of the treads as you use them and if it changes when you reach the top or the bottom, it’s an accident waiting to happen. The answer would be to make a plinth at the bottom of the stairs at a slightly different height, allowing the brain to realise that the flight of steps has stopped and the new step may well be a different height. Hope this helps.
How much would you need to cut?