Using the Stair Calculators

If you’re designing a set of stairs for the first time there can be many factors to consider. Consulting with local regulations, guidelines and standards is always the first step. After all, your stairs always need to be safe, but they also need to be built to a standard to ensure this.

Next a basic design considering materials etc is essential.

Then you need to work out how many steps your stairs will have, it’s angle and also how far out it will project, which is called the Total Run.

Often the Total Run will be fixed but in other instances you many have the room for this vary, especially with outdoor stairs, which may lead from a deck to an open yard.

So where do you start?

Firstly, in most cases you will know the Total Rise. This is the height from your landing at the top of the stairs to the ground level where the bottom step will be positioned. Then you will need to know either the Run or the the Total Run. If the distance from the top landing to the bottom step is fixed (which is often the case with internal stairs) then it’s a simple case of just measuring it. If you have some flexibility with where your stairs will finish at ground level then you can start with the Run for each step.

So, determining the Run can be achieved by consulting the regulations and by the size of the materials you will use for your steps. You will often have some flexibility with this.
Therefore, when using the appropriate Stairs Calculator, you will either start with the Total Rise and Run OR The Total Rise and Total Run.

Next you will have to determine whether your top step will be flush with the landing or position below it. In most instances your top step will be positioned below the landing.
Therefore, to simplify the process, we have designed four slightly different stairs calculators that calculate the rest of the variables, depending on which dimensions you decided to start with.

So, as an example, given that you will know the Total Rise and may also know the Run, you will select Stairs Calculator 1. Simply enter the first two variables and then enter the amount of steps and the calculator will update in real time. Then check the other variables so they fit within the regulations and your materials list. You can then vary the amount of steps until you get the Rise, Total Run and Angle that then best suits your requirements and the site.

Therefore check out the four Stairs Calculators and decide which one best serves your design. But before you do you will need to know how to measure the Total Rise accurately.