stairs gradient for an attic?

roseinthegarden

we are looking at putting a proper staircase up to our attic, can anyone tell me with a 95cm width - without it being too steep what is the largest gradient you can have on a staircase while still being within the correct limits. We are trying to work out where to put it and still make sure it will not cause a problem with head heights !

The one from the hall to the landing is length 215cm before it gets to the ceiling height of 200cm. For the attic stairs could we make the length shorter or is this a standard gradient?

Hope that makes sense

Carlow52

Not my area of expertise but u will find the answer here
http://www.environ.ie/en/TGD/ part K

One consideration here is that if u are living in 2 storey house and this stairs make it 3 and the attic is to be used for habitation then the fire regs are of concern.
Out of scope of your question but perhaps better to flag it:)

Paterson

Maximum angle 42 degrees thats roughly across 200mm and up 180mm, Carlow52 is right about the fire regs almost certain that if the building is converted to 3 floors the hall must become fire rated which involves self closing doors for all doors into hall and the wall construction taken into account.

Could be wrong though
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1640,en.pdf

Its a large document but also it is only guidance it is not the law it is merely compilied to show an easy way to comply, a consultation with a fire office could solve alot.

Mellor

Carlow52 wrote: »

One consideration here is that if u are living in 2 storey house and this stairs make it 3 and the attic is to be used for habitation then the fire regs are of concern.

Spot on Carlow52, If it'll will be a habitable room its needs to meet fire regs.
I'm assuming that because the OP is putting in a full stairs it is intended to be habitable.

And all the details of the staris are in part K that Carlow linked to.
Generally it is treated exactly like a regualar stairs, rise, going, steps, pitch, width.

The one exeption is that an attic stair has a slightly lower min height of 1.9m centrally and 1.8m at the edges.

The other exception for attics is that alternating tread steps may be used. These allow for a much steeper pitch while maintaining going length. This may be useful to the OP.

Its a large document but also it is only guidance it is not the law it is merely compilied to show an easy way to comply, a consultation with a fire office could solve alot.

Not really true. The documents are the law, but you need to meet those levels to comply with the regs, which are law.
They may be exceptions, but this isn't one.