Spiral staircases - any opinions?

abankerbutnotafatcat

We have a Victorian townhouse with three stories plus a loft extension. The lower ground and upper ground both have doors with direct access to the road (four steps down or up from the street).

The stairs are of the typically narrow Victorian variety (I've already fallen down them once - ouch!!) and due to some historic wet rot need quite a bit of work on them even if we decide to keep them.

We are considering making the kitchen and dining room in the lower ground floor open plan but the staircase is in between the two rooms so this could be achieved by a spiral staircase. If it was the only route between the lower two floors I would be more concerned but as heavy/awkward items could be carried between the two floors via the outside, ditto for less mobile visitors, although with a steep-staired Victorian townhouse it was never very friendly for small children or the less mobile.

So my question - in these circumstances, would a spiral staircase put you off buying a house??

One additional question - does anyone know how cats get on with them?

System

imo a narrow, straight stair case is preferable to a spiral in terms of use, the tapered treads on a spiral are awkward for those of us with big feet!!
spiral can look great tho so might not be that bad for selling!
also, just be careful with a spiral, they may look like they take less room than a standard staircase but they still require about the same footprint

(i'm sure cats would soon learn to use them)

Counting_Pennies_2

I would be put off by a spiral stair case.

Many people I know have turned their staircase around, and in stead of dividing two rooms, runs up the side of just one of the rooms, against the wall to next door. If you can do this it would be much better in my opinion

loracan1

I'd find a spiral staircase very off-putting between two main floors in a house, less so going to an attic.

Owain_Moneysaver

You will need Building Regulations approval for removing walls or changing the staircase and this will be to current standards. For a 3 storey + basement house the fire safety requirements may be surprisingly onerous, eg fire doors all the way up the stairs.

Spiral stairs take up a lot of floor area and you can't use the space underneath for storage.

abankerbutnotafatcat

@the_r_sole:
I don't think Victorian staircases are very good for people with big feet either - i'm only a size 5/38 but still have to walk on them slightly sideways. Makes me wonder in the pre-NHS days how many people must have died from stairfalls!! But thanks for the feedback yes, they can look great and although I know I'd be limiting my potential audience i'm trying to find out how much i'd be limiting it by.

@Owain Moneysaver:
If we go down this route we will use an architect and ensure that all regulations are adhered to.

It is all the way down to the stairs - they are in the basement and we don't use the space under the stairs for storage anyway.

What I have asked is for opinions on whether a spiral staircase would put off potential buyers in my specific circumstances i.e. where both the floors that it linked have a direct door to the street.

System

but with a narrow staircase you only need to adjust your feet once, where a stair case has tapered treads you have to think about it every time!!
i was thinking about a spiral we put in a penthouse apartment which was quite pricey but not really top end, tbh i thought it looked cheap, so if you are going to do it, get one that looks good without the cheap looking balustrade! - It would be nice to get one from a salvage yard to match the age of your house, however i've never seen one that would pass todays regs!

abankerbutnotafatcat

@the_r_sole
yes, if we do it we'll do it properly!! Even if that means waiting for a while. We'll go for a quite modern feel as that's to our own tastes and we know that with the spiral staircase any likely buyers will probably also have quite modern tastes. We've seen some with beautiful wooden treads that have a contemporary, yet not industrial feel which should blend in.

muskoka

I wouldnt buy a house with a spiral staircase. May look ok-ish, but downright inconvenient when you want to get anything up/down. Would put me right off - sorry

garethgas

I had one in my first house (a million years ago) and found it fine.
Good tread depth, correct height between treads and great fun after a few beers!
Oh, and its not a spiral, its a helix :beer:

whitewing

I would absolutely love the spiral staircase in your situation, except if you are intending to carry food or drinks between the kitchen and dining room.