askjake

Pull-down attic stairs

Question from Mike: Is there a manufacturer that makes a heavy duty pull down attic stairs, I feel like I'm pressing my luck every time I get on them. 

Jake’s Answer: Mike, Check out www.wernerladder.com. They have attic pull down stairs with service ratings as high as 350 pounds – that’s pretty high.

Staircase project

Question from Charity:  I'm looking at buying a house but want to know how much it would approximately be to redo the stairs. They currently go straight up with a full wall along both sides. I want to take the bottom 2/3rd of the stairs and "U" them around and down in order to open up those walls where the bottom of the stairs were originally to see into the living room and dining room from the kitchen. Thanks. 

Jake’s Answer:  Charity, To complete a project like this will require you to “capture” the ceiling and floor space above the new “U” section. This allows for the head room as you walk the stairs. A typical set of stairs requires a foot print of floor space of approximately 4’ wide by 13’ long (8’ high ceiling). So if you want to create a U of 2/3rds, you will need additional floor space of 4’w by 8’ long. Can you take that much out of the ceiling/floor space above this area. If you can, then the project is possible. The cost to do this would depend upon everything that you will impact as a result of the change – this could be pretty extensive. There could be heat ducts, wires, plumbing, framing, and finishes to take into account. I would guess that you would probably be in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000. That is the range we have charged for similar jobs, if this is a similar job.

Reversing a stairway

Question:  Hi Jake, Our basement stairs go down from our kitchen. We\'ve realized there is a lot of wasted space at the top of the stairs. If they faced the other direction, we could close up the door to the basement on the kitchen side, expand our 1/2 bath off our bedroom, and add a pantry to our kitchen. The stairs are on a single strand - 11 stairs in all. There is already a coat closet off the living room that actually is in the exact place of the stairs - we know this because the floor of the coat closet is at an incline because it goes over the ceiling of the stairs. So given there is already a doorway on the opposite side, and potentially the strand could be detached from its current location and flipped around to attach on the other side, would you still expect the cost of the movement to be 15-20K? We don\'t have to move any walls, or do anything to the current basement door at this very moment if we didn\'t want.. it would just be flipping the stairs around and widening the door frame of the current \'closet\' door. Just looking to find out if this is a feasible and cost-effective solution to eventually expanding our kitchen/bathroom. Thanks in advance for your help! Amber N

Jake's Answer:  Amber, I think your idea is an excellent one.  I don't see any problems in what you are proposing.  The cost would probably be in the $10K range.  It should go just the way you have described.  Is there any problem if the stairs terminate at the basement in a different location?  If not, then go for it

Moving a staircase

Hi Jake,

Can you tell me approximately how much it costs to relocate a staircase? I'd like to remove ours from the kitchen of our ranch style house & put it in the living room. Thanks very much.

Christine

Christine,

This is a tuffy.  We have moved staircases before and it can get rather involved.  You will need an area in your living room that is 3'6" wide by 12' long and the 12' should run parallel to the beam in the basement and on the opposite side of the beam where the duct run, assuming that you have ducts running along side the beam.  Usually you will have to relocate some wires and feeder ducts as well.  Then it is just a matter of cutting a hole and re-framing the floor, install the stairs and trim out the stairs.  The cost is probably between $15,000 to $20,000 for all labor and material.  I hope this helps.  Good remodeling.

Jake