**Extending staircase** Is it possible? Any ideas appreciated!

martynaaa

Hello,

My partner and I have recently bought a house with a converted loft - it's a typical semi-detached house built in the 60's.
The staircase between the first floor and the loft is very narrow. It looks like it was originally wider and matched the width of the main staircase (located underneath) but the previous house owner narrowed it to build a storage space - please see the photos. The wooden beam on the right side reaches the top of the staircase.

We would like to extend the stairs to their original width. We have already shown it to one joiner and we were informed that it would be a very time consuming and costly project. He suggested that to get access to the stairs, he would have to damage the plaster boards underneath (on the other side they are the ceiling above the main staircase) to reach them "from the bottom" and there was no cheap and easy way to do it. 

Is the advice given to us reasonable? We have no experience in this field but we have doubts if there is really no way of widening the stairs by accessing them "from the top"? Is there any way to use the structure we already have?
If it's possible to increase the width of our stairs, would anyone be able to provide us with a rough idea of the cost of the material required? 
(9 steps, width 90 cm / 35.5 inch)

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! 

Doozergirl

A new staircase will cost a lot less in labour.  

Rip out the existing and put new ones in place.  There's no turn in the staircase is there?  Is that why they've made it narrow? 

https://www.stairbox.com/

You can get a staircase for about £300-400, delivered.  I'm not sure why you're trying to save a £5 plasterboard.  You're going to need a plasterer anyway, might as well give him a proper job.  

martynaaa

Doozergirl thanks for your response and your advice :-)
You're right, there's no turn. I think the previous house owner didn't mind narrowing the staircase if it gave him extra storage space.

We are not concerned about saving money on plaster board - we just want to avoid the mess downstairs. The whole house (excluding the loft) had been plastered and decorated just before we bought the house and if possible we would prefer to avoid damaging it. The staircase underneath had recently been refurbished so we are trying to find out if there is any way we could extend the stairs to the loft without affecting other parts of the house.

Thanks!

TELLIT01

I agree with Doozergirl, replacing will certainly be a much better option.  Attempting to widen it will be a major task and access to the underside of the stairs will be required to fix the two 'half width' steps to each other.  It will always be weaker than a properly constructed staircase.

martynaaa

TELLIT01 said:

I agree with Doozergirl, replacing will certainly be a much better option.  Attempting to widen it will be a major task and access to the underside of the stairs will be required to fix the two 'half width' steps to each other.  It will always be weaker than a properly constructed staircase.

Thank you TELLIT01 for the explanation! It definitely makes sense and I think we'll follow your suggestion :-) 

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: You're going to need a plasterer anyway, might as well give him a proper job.  

It will cost the same to do a 2m x 1m section as it would to do the walls & ceiling in a 2.5m square box room - Well, apart from materials, which is minimal.. By the time a plasterer has mixed up a bucket of plaster, slapped it on the walls/ceiling and waited for it to set, he'll have spent most of the day "on job". So might as well make full use of the guy while he is there.