Hello World! Welcome Friends! Whether at home or the workplace, design and aesthetics should go hand in hand with safety. As you keep your mind busy about how you can enhance your space, you should also think of a realistic design that’ll work for any existing structure. Or if you’re completely building a new home or commercial building, taking into consideration some design guidelines wouldn’t hurt at all. This is particularly true when adding outdoor stairways to your property.
Outdoor steps or stairways are widely used in exterior design because they’re versatile and easy to maintain. It’s a useful feature to connect the property’s landscape design with architecture. In addition, they add elegance and value to your home and they even look good in commercial spaces as well.
Designing Your Outdoor Stairways
Choosing a design that’ll work with your outdoor stairs isn’t as easy as picking the color you want. You have to consider several factors to ensure what you’ll be adding to the property is something of value, functionality, and aesthetics.
In addition, you may consider the following design guidelines:
1. Decide On What Type Of Stairs You Want
Exterior stairways come in different types and designs. Perhaps, you already have a particular design in mind when you decided to install or add a new staircase to your home’s exterior. Even if you do, it’s not a bad idea to still check other designs and types as you may find something that interests you even more.
For example, you might be talked into going for prefab exterior stairs once you find out about the benefits of getting one such as ease of installment as well as the different styles to choose from. Prefabricated stairs can either be straight or spiral and can be used in several applications such as industrial, commercial, and residential.
If you don’t like ready-to-install stairways, you can choose your design by customizing your steps. You might have to consider where you plan on placing the stairways before choosing what style or type you want for the project. Staircase styles can vary depending on how you plan to use them. Compact staircases are commonly used in storage rooms, especially if there’s little space left for a regular stair to be installed.
2. Choose The Materials For Your Stairway
The material you use for the balustrade, steps, and structure of the stairways can heavily impact the decorative appeal of the outdoor space. Other than that, it’s also the material of the steps that’ll determine the comfort level, ease of maintenance, and safety of this exterior component. In some instances, homeowners choose to use a combination of different materials to spruce up the style of the outdoor area.
For a timeless and more affordable option, you can go for a wooden staircase. Wood is much lighter than concrete, glass, and stone without sacrificing curb appeal. That makes it a perfect choice if you’re planning to build a wooden deck and stairs. Metal staircases, on the other hand, are more common in industrial applications. Metal is durable and flexible enough to adapt to any style or type of stairs you want.
Glass staircases have a strong aesthetic appeal. Although costly, an all-glass stairway design is perfect if you’re trying to achieve a minimalist look. Another material is concrete, which is heavy and is typically used in public buildings because it’s fire-resistant.
3. Make Sure The Proportion Is Right
Outdoor stairs aren’t only designed to make the area look more pleasing to the eyes. More importantly, they’ll allow you and everyone who’ll use them to move up and down with convenience. That being said, it’s important to plan the proportion accordingly to ensure the design can accommodate your needs.
Some factors to consider when choosing the right proportion are the overall width of the stairs, tread size, height, length, and frequency of the landing. If you’re able to consider these factors, users will feel safer when using the stairway.
4. Use Handrails
If you’re adding the stairways to an office building or workspace, handrails are a must to ensure safety. This feature could potentially help in preventing possible injuries and accidents in the workplace. In the same sense, handrails are also recommended when installing staircases at home, especially if you have children.
Handrails are also available in different materials such as glass, wood, wrought iron, aluminum, and steel. Most of the time, homeowners would choose the same material for both the stairways and handrails. Doing so will enhance the overall look of this upgrade while making it easier to maintain. You can also match the handrails to the design of the outdoor space where you’re adding or putting them. May it be your patio, mezzanine, deck, or attic, stairways with handrails can be a great combination.
5. Check The Municipal Office For Local Codes And Safety Guidelines
Whether you’re building an entirely new property or just doing some renovations, you need to check first if the local government office is requiring any permit or requirement for the project. For commercial spaces, you may be required to add elevator access and ramps in addition to the stairs you’re installing.
If the stairs will be used as an exterior fire escape, there’ll be regulations on sizing, depending on the type of building you’re planning to build, as well as the number of employees or occupants that’ll be using the facilities and the number of floors or levels the building will have.
6. Consider Illuminating Your Stairway
Outdoor lighting has always been a valuable addition to any home exterior. Illuminated staircases are kind of a trend these days. The light makes it possible for any homeowner to showcase the stairs’ design even at night. If the stairs are placed in a dimly lit area, illuminating them will help users see the steps.
You can conceal the light source simply by installing them under each tread. When all lit up, it makes the floating effect since the bulbs aren’t visible. If you wish to achieve a more dramatic effect, you can choose bulbs or lights that have an option to change their colors.
Conclusion
Stairways can be a great addition to any outdoor space. While the process of designing and building one can be quite complex, all of that will be incomparable to how you can level up your property’s outdoor appeal.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
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