A staircase is a very important feature in a house and careful consideration needs to be taken at the design stage. A well designed staircase can improve any house.

Professional consultation is advisable when considering a staircase.

A staircase manufacturer can be found in your local yellow pages or via the Internet under the classification of staircases. It is advisable to obtain three quotations. There is a wide variety of components and materials to suite the style of your home and budget.

Note - Always use a licensed contractor or an affiliated member of a staircase manufactures association to ensure the reliability of the job.

Technical Data

The Building Code We believe that most of the regulations pertaining to stairs and balustrading are reasonable and work to promote safer buildings. Regulations should reflect industry standards and a balance between safety and practicality. HIA Guide to the Building Code of Australia relating to staircases is a handy guide, published by HIA (Housing Industry Association) is designed to simplify and explain Volume Two of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) - The Housing Provisions. It should be read in conjunction with the latest Building Code of Australia.

Headroom

Please note that many people are under the misapprehension that there is no longer a requirement for minimum headroom in staircase construction. This is not correct although you could be forgiven for thinking that it was. Nowhere in the actual staircase section of the BCA is there any mention of headroom heights, but for some reason, someone decided to slot that particular regulation in with 'ceiling heights'. So there is a headroom limit and it is 2000mm measured from the nosing line.