New stairs for cottage advice

Newheight13

Hello,

We are looking to purchase a small cottage but there is an issue with the spiral stairs being very steep and solid concrete -  like something you’d see in an castle! It looks great but the practicality and hazards it will cause worries me as we have young children. 

The stairs leads up to a long corridor which the bedrooms run off. If we were to build a new stairs the other end of the corridor, this would require us knocking through the wall and extending the cottage just for a new stairs l, so an external build to house a staircase essentially. Building not listed.

Anyone know how much this will cost? I know there is more to it than this but just a ballpark figure give or take 5k 

Thanks 

sugar-walsh

If share a pic of floor plans, someone will likely have a plan that doesn't involve an extension for stairs. Also. Do neighbours have the same? Appreciate it may be a 1 off property, but worth checking.

ThisIsWeird

Blimey - please show us these stairs if you buy it (or a link to the listing - pleeeeez!)

Unless these stairs are truly, insurmountably, treacherous, I have to say my first thoughts would be to try and temporarily make them safe and suitable for young children to use, whilst preserving them as they are until the children are far more agile and nimble and safer than you - that won't take long :-)

So, additional bannisters at a lower level? Thick carpet covering? A chicane half way down so they need to step sideways - and it would otherwise stop their tumbling descent? A large rubber bungee cord to clip on their belts before they set off down? A baby-gate at the top and bottom until they are old enough to climb over it?

Or, are these stairs just far too dangerous to use for anybody?

Apodemus

If the stairs are "solid concrete" this sounds as if they might be more recent than the rest of the cottage and there is a risk that the current arrangement of stairs and bedroom corridor might not meet modern building regulations.  While that is probably no problem of itself (generally speaking, old stuff doesn't need to conform to new regs), it might be wise to get your solicitors and/or surveyor to check that there are no risks in terms of past conversions. 

In all probability, any new arrangement will need building regs approval and others on here can advise whether this might open up the rest of the upstairs conversion to new scrutiny. 

Doozergirl

Have you had an architect design these new stairs?  

The design of stairs isn't the easiest thing to get one's head around, but building outside seems a bit extreme. Spiral stairs often take up more room than regular flighted staircases, so replacing them may not be as much of a problem as you think.  

Do you have floorplans?  

Also, as someone who lived in a quirky old cottage with steep stairs, we (and children particularly) do develop muscle memory that allows us to negotiate even unique stair cases without thinking about them after a short period, so it may not be as much of an issue as you might anticipate. 

Newheight13

Thank you for all your responses. Please see the photos and floor plan. Some of the steps you can only get half a foot on! Someone did suggest to me that forget the stairs and get a lift instead! Not sure if this is a good idea or not! 

Doozergirl

With underlay and carpet, you'll have a much softer landing if someone did slip; there isn't all that far to travel otherwise.  

They are very similar to the stairs we had in a Listed house that we had (ours were admittedly wood).  We had two small children at the time and they were both absolutely fine.  I am presuming that you already know that this house is not listed or even in a conservation area? 

You could get stairs into the house without extending specifically for the stairs.  If new stairs came up nearer the middle of the house then you could potentially gain some space in bedroom 2, but it does look like the ceiling is low and building regs would want to see the correct head height of 2m above each tread, which might equally remove a fair amount of floor space. 

If you did want to extend then you would get better value from creating more rooms as well - the cost:benefit would be very low otherwise.  You're saying the the stairs aren't child friendly, but neither is a shower room, so any potential extension should also prioritise a bathroom.  

This a historic building and I'd have some real issues wanting to remove those stairs in the first place.  If I did touch the house, I'd increase the size of Bed 2 right over to the doorway of Bed 1 and put a floor over the existing stairs and turn the stairs into quirky shelves.  

This is an architect's job, definitely, and it should be about making some wider gains in floor space with a bit of juggling, but I can't help thinking that it could potentially ruin the quirks that some people would love this house for. 

Newheight13

Thank you! I’d definitely want to keep the original stairs and have it as an additional stairway. I was think if extending the kitchen, double story, so bedroom above with another bedroom above and stairs running near the bathrooms.m as bedrooms are very small and only 2 metres high. I think we would be looking around 70k to completes this though - so do you think that would sound about right?

mi-key

i would be tempted to just child proof them until the kids are a bit older. Maybe install a lower bannister for them and thick carpet on the stairs. You could even add padding like gym mats to the wall under the bannister. You can also put child gates top and bottom.

They wouldn't then be any more dangerous than any normal stairs. They would probably be safer than normal stairs as if they did trip they would be more likely to fall against the wall, rather than straight down the stairs on traditional ones.

Would be a lot cheaper than spending £70K on an extension

Newheight13

That’s very true - thanks! I was considering an extension for an extra bedroom anyway as the rooms are quite small so I’ll see what cost of the stairs might add I think. 

Doozergirl

Newheight13 said:

Thank you! I’d definitely want to keep the original stairs and have it as an additional stairway. I was think if extending the kitchen, double story, so bedroom above with another bedroom above and stairs running near the bathrooms.m as bedrooms are very small and only 2 metres high. I think we would be looking around 70k to completes this though - so do you think that would sound about right?

Your description is a bit vague and you really need a plan first before you start thinking about numbers.   £70k will obviously buy you something, the question is what.