Why do we need staircases?

Every home, office, commercial building or industrial building of more than one floor needs a way of getting from one floor to the next by way of two landings and a staircase. Typically a staircase will incorporate a bottom or ground floor landing and a top or upstairs landing. However split staircases will turn either 90 degrees or 180 degrees with a landing half way up the climb. 180 degree staircases which turn back on themselves are perfect for multi-storey buildings such as office building or apartment buildings, they can be spiral with a central column or circular without a centre column.

Staircases originated almost at the dawn of the world being created. Most commonly they were built out of old tree trunks initially and fitted together for survival reasons and to help soldiers climb mountains, valley walls and other steep terrain areas. No one is yet sure when these types of staircases were first created, but it known that evidence of these staircases has been seen to be hundreds of years old.

The invention of staircases was due to the need for a way of bridging the gap from one architectural level to another vertically and by way of dividing the vertical climb into smaller vertical devisions making staircases easy to climb providing you don't have mobility problems. After the invention of straight staircases came the natural movement to the next step - Spiral Staircases and then on to moving stairs such as escalators.

It was at the end of the nineteenth century when staircases took on a whole new role. It was said that this was the "Golden era" when it comes to the construction of staircases. Glass and Steel designed staircases began life in the late 1980's and offered a modern, delicate and ornate style to the centrepiece of your home or office. Wrought iron Gothic Staircases also became a new feature in modern day architecture. However, if you decide to assemble your own staircase then you should adhere to local building codes. Check with your local council to find out more about the building laws and area codes.

Different staircase types feature in today's buildings, some of these include:

• Straight staircases,
• Split level staircases ( 90 or 180 degree turn),
• Spiral Staircases,
• Escalators,
• Floating staircases,
• Helix staircases,
• Elliptical staircases,
• Fusion staircases,
• Double spiral or Double Helix staircases,
• Square staircases,
• Alternating staircases.

The average home in the US is shrinking which means less room for fancy, elegant staircases but you still need to get from one floor to the other don't you? A solution to this is the space saving alternating staircase featuring foot plates which alternate as they rise thus using up less floor space than standard flights of stairs. Alternating staircases are also an excellent choice if you are looking to convert your loft space as this means that space is limited. Spiral staircases are too wide in this instance and regular stairs too long. Alternating staircases make the climb to the next level using only half the space of either spiral or standard stairs.

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