How to make a ladder with your own hands

Overhaul of an apartment is not a simple matter associated with solving a wide variety of problems arising both during the preparatory processes and during the repair itself. The initial stage of any event is drawing up a plan and forming a clear project of the upcoming work with a choice of forms and materials.

Such planning will save you from unnecessary problems of rebuilding or replanning already done work. Alterations entail additional costs. When planning an apartment, it is worth paying special attention to such a factor as convenience and comfort in the further operation of the dwelling, namely, in delimiting the entire area of ​​the apartment into zones – a recreation area and an active pastime zone. This separation will allow you to feel comfortable in any situation in the future..

During the reception of guests, the recreation area, being isolated, is simply closed for visits. Or, in an ordinary household situation with poor health, someone close to him will have the opportunity to retire in the recreation area, while everyone else will feel comfortable in the active zone. The best way to do this is to set up a two-level apartment or house with bedrooms and offices on the second floor, and the living room, dining room, and kitchen are located on the first. When forming such a decision, the question arises about the arrangement of the stairs between the floors..

The choice of staircase designs is huge and the device of a staircase for a specific interior is quite a solvable task, even without having specialized knowledge.

The initial stage in the construction of a staircase is the preparation of its project and its location. The location plays a significant role in the further formation of the very structure of the stairs and the approach must be thoughtful and balanced. The most suitable place for its location is the entrance hall for a number of reasons, firstly, the functional features of the hallway itself make original decoration impossible.

Secondly, during its operation, there will be no chance of getting small debris on the heads of those sitting, which is possible in the living room or dining room. There are several main types of stairs: marching, spiral and circular. From the point of view of aesthetics, the most attractive are circular, they allow you to create a unique design with minimal loss of space. It should be noted that the overall dimensions of all types of stairs are approximately the same, only the spatial arrangement differs.

During construction, the option of a circular staircase was chosen that runs along the walls of the hallway, making a turn of 180 degrees.

In order to make a staircase, it is necessary to clearly define the future overall dimensions, such dimensions are determined from the width of the staircase itself, its height and total length. The total length of the ladder is calculated taking into account the height and optimal dimensions of the steps. From the point of view of convenience, the maximum step height should not exceed 18 cm, the most optimal is 16 cm, with a minimum width of 23 cm, steps of smaller dimensions are not convenient and may cause many difficulties in the future. Sizes may vary depending on needs, but not exceeding the maximum values.

The standard ceiling height in standard rooms does not exceed 2.7 meters plus a concrete floor, for a total of approximately 3 meters, which equals approximately 18 steps, the scheme is quite simple, the total height, taking into account the future screed, is divided by the selected height. The width of the stairs should be at least 80 cm. The most optimal width is 1 meter. Reducing the width can lead to difficulties in the delivery of bulky items to the second floor. Based on this, it is not necessary to make the width of the stairs less than 80 cm.

After determining the overall dimensions and drawing up an approximate sketch of the project of the staircase itself, it is necessary to make an accurate layout out of cardboard, maintaining all dimensions in a ratio of one to 100, which will allow you to calculate in more detail all the nuances that arise when turning the stairs. As a rule, it is impossible to take into account all the features of the location of the steps when turning, and the layout will give a clear idea and allow you to adjust the dimensions of each individual step. Determining all the exact dimensions greatly simplifies the work of manufacturing the staircase itself. Unlike finished products with strict technical parameters offered by construction companies, an individual staircase is individual in everything.

When choosing materials for manufacturing, you need to choose the most economically viable solutions, which will make it possible to make a really beautiful and inexpensive thing. An iron corner 30 * 30 is used as a supporting structure, which will give rigidity to the structure with a relatively low weight, which plays an important role due to the fact that such structures exert additional pressure on the supporting structures, or rather on the floor slabs. In this regard, it is not worth making it massive, so that there are no defects in the supporting structures..

The handrails and railings of the future stairs are also made of iron, for the railings you can use a 12 * 12 square with a small metal ball as a decoration, and on the handrails we take an ordinary pipe with a diameter of 51.

When choosing a material for sheathing the very surface of the stairs, you must immediately take into account two factors, the first mechanical load and the second appearance. Oak is the most suitable for cladding, it is this wood that has both qualities and strength and a beautiful texture, while it is worth noting that the purchase of oak is the most expensive component of the entire manufacture of stairs. Although you can use other types of hardwoods. Only business wood is needed with no defects and knots. It is possible to purchase wood of class A (with white knots), while the desired width of the board is not less than 20 cm, which will allow using the largest possible number of “whole” boards and will cause less trouble when sheathing. The total material requirement can be calculated using the following calculations:

• iron corner 30 * 30 – we multiply the total height of the stairs by two plus two lengths of the stairs and plus the number of steps, multiplied by two and by the length of each step. Be sure to take with a margin of 10-15%.
• the material for the railing is taken based on the estimated height of the railing, as a rule, one meter (generally determined based on the average height of a person and personal convenience, it can be 80 cm) and the number of steps, the length of the handrail is equal to the length of the staircase itself around the circumference.
• the amount of wood is equal to the width multiplied by the height, plus the width by the length and multiplied by the thickness of the board, plus a margin of 15%, we get the amount of board in cubes.

Paradoxical as it may sound, the greatest amount of time and effort during the construction of a staircase is spent on designing. When the project has already been drawn up and thought out, the construction itself will take a little time. The first is to prepare the opening for the future stairs. The overlap between apartments, as a rule, is made of concrete slabs lying on the load-bearing walls; to form an opening, we remove the screed and the ceiling on both sides of the slab. On the lower floor, we install a wall in the likeness of a bearing, taking into account the fact that after removing a part of the slab, the weight of the remaining part will be transferred to a new support.

After that, part of the slab is removed and a staircase is formed. Based on the project, the staircase structure is boiled out from the corner. The corner is boiled, starting from the top step, gradually sinking to the floor. In fact, the steps immediately take on a finished look and in the future there is simply wood sheathing. The corner is placed on the outside (at an angle to the tree) and welded on the back, the main condition is strict adherence to the level in relation to the floor, otherwise the distortions at the beginning can completely deform the structures below.

After the formation of the iron component of the structure, to enhance its strength, the side walls are lined up with bricks, taking into account that the entire iron structure will lie on them. These piers, on the one hand, completely repeating the bend of the stairs, will serve as cladding, on the other hand, they serve as a reliable foundation. As a result of this construction, a fairly spacious niche is formed under the stairs..

The use of ready-made wooden railings or even iron railings is both expensive and problematic in finding the most suitable railings, while making them yourself will not take much time and is much cheaper. We make handrails from an ordinary square and iron balls. Iron balls can be bought on the market, just like a square, after which we ask the turner to “twist” the square handrail, after which we weld the twisted square to the balls from both sides.

When performing this operation, it is advisable to have extensive experience in welding or to hire a specialist. After that, the handrails are welded to the finished structure of the staircase itself, and from above we fasten the handrails in the same way. We make the railing from an ordinary pipe, for this we make a life-size model from plastic pipes (or other unnecessary material), of a smaller diameter and according to this template we make a full-size railing in the workshop on a pipe bending machine.

Such an operation is needed only along a segment of the bend. After that we weld the made bend with the continuation of the “even” railing, and the ends of the pipe are muffled with iron balls, after which they are scalded with electric welding.

The plating process is one of the final and most responsible, in fact, the appearance of the stairs depends on them. The board must be pre-sanded. When planking stairs, it is advisable to have a circular saw or to measure and saw all the boards at the carpenter’s. After installing the boards, fasten them on the back with small wood screws. That makes it possible not to spoil the appearance with screws. After installing all the wooden panels, it is worth sanding them a little and covering them with a film, if the paintwork will take place later, such a procedure is needed in order to avoid contamination of the wood.

The final stage is painting the stairs and railings. It is best to open the railings with automotive paint with a choice of the desired shade and color, while it is worth contacting a specialized store where you can select any shade or color. Painting is done with a spray gun, the first stage is the application of a primer, then the paint itself, and on top with a protective varnish. All operations for painting the railings will take at least a couple of days, each layer must be allowed to dry, which will ensure a long and reliable staircase service.

We first open the wood with a layer of a protective coating, and then with the varnish itself, the priming of the boards must be carried out from the inside and outside, and the opening with varnish only from the front. After drying, we apply a second layer of varnish, you can use a spray gun to apply varnish, but you can also use a brush, the first option is preferable because of the quality of the application itself and the appearance in the future. The painting technology should take place exactly in such a sequence, which makes it possible in cases of paint getting on the wood, it is easy to wash it and prevent stains. In this case, do not forget about the use of either a special parquet varnish, it is stronger than usual, or you can use a varnish for yachts.

A byproduct of creating a staircase is a small niche in one of the corners, into which the aquarium fits perfectly, while, in addition to a purely aesthetic plus, it also serves as a lamp illuminating the staircase at any time of the day. Creating a staircase with your own hands is absolutely not a myth, but a completely objective reality, while the creation of such a structure will cost the owner several times cheaper than analogues from craftsmen or specialized enterprises. The second aspect is that the results of such work will delight the heart, soul and with pride it will be possible to say that I did it.