piper_burns•20d agoMost Upvoted

Visited a 1970s split level and the basement stairs made me rethink my own

My friend's parents just bought a fixer upper in Cleveland, and I tagged along to help them take measurements. The basement stairs were original, narrow, and had this super shallow tread depth, like 7 inches maybe. I've been planning to rebuild my own basement stairs for a while, but stepping on those things reminded me that code is there for a reason. My current stairs are steep too, and I always just assumed it was fine since they've been there 40 years. Anyone else ever found a compromise between keeping old house charm and fixing safety issues like shallow treads? I'd love to hear what you did instead of a full tear out.

2 comments

2 Comments

blake32217d ago

That landing idea is genius, felix147. My own basement steps have about eight inch treads and I added a handrail on both sides last year, which honestly helped more than I expected. Halfway landings sound like the perfect middle ground between keeping the old bones and not eating shit on the way down with an armful of laundry.

felix14720d ago

My mother's house has those same stairs and every time I go down them I grip the rail like my life depends on it. Seven inches is rough, but I built a tiny landing halfway down which made it way more doable without gutting the whole thing.