Weld staircase from square tubing?

[zachris]

At the risk of hijacking your thread, my angles have arrived and tomorrow there will be welding. Considering something similar to this as a railing: [link] Any ideas for the construction?

Oooo, what a sleek railing with built-in lighting! We're just considering what rails to have for our stairs and think we've finally "found the right one." How is it, you only intend to have a handrail mounted on the wall and not a real railing (fall protection) on the opposite side of the stairs?

 

[Tessok]

I agree with everyone else
Wow, it's so stylish and luxurious

For the first time, I am envious of two-story houses
We live in a single-story house

Have you painted yet?
The biggest point of sandblasting is to remove the mill scale on the beams
The paint adheres better then and even stays on if you bump it with something
But since it's indoors, it might work anyway...

Zinkprimer is something that works well (spray)

Wood is also both stylish and acts as a sound absorber
A pure steel staircase can be a bit "clangy" when you walk on it

Once again, I want to say
Wow, it’s so stylish

It's nice to hear that there are craftsmen who find joy in their work and share it

 

[zachris]

Agree with everyone else Wow, it's stylish and luxurious

Fun that more than just me thinks "Wow!" when they see the stairs

For the first time, I’m jealous of two-story houses. We live in a single-story house

Hehe, that must be the best compliment a staircase can get! Personally, I find stairs very fun, and I think it's a shame that many house manufacturers select stairs routinely because it seems possible to build quite different stairs at a reasonable cost. Recently, we've been thinking a lot about how the railing should look, and last night we finally got it right. After surfing through all (!) the sites on the net about stairs and railings, my partner finally found a brilliant design which we worked on further. Great feeling because I was afraid we wouldn't find something that worked and be forced to install something mediocre...

Have you painted it yet?

No, we haven't painted yet, so thanks for the tips, but according to an earlier post, it seems you can't sandblast it in place. However, I'll look into that zinc primer.

Great to hear there are craftsmen who find joy in their work and share it

Yes, and it also becomes so much more fun to discuss solutions, but the coolest thing is that everyone feels involved and proud when it's done! The person who did the welding and metalwork took a lot of pictures when the stairway was finished.

 

[BosseHansson]

Zachris: We haven't decided on fall protection etc. But I think the handrail will turn out so-so. Then you'll have to adapt the fall protection etc. accordingly. My buddy thinks we should have a stainless steel edge on the steps, but I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm welding away down in the basement... I'll attach a picture later. I plan to apply car paint or powder coating on my beam. What it will be remains to be seen. Have you received any price for the steps themselves on the staircase? Or were you thinking of using pine?

 

[BosseHansson]

By the way, I bought a pair of rampamuff at the local hardware store. It felt like a solid and good solution. I think it was a great tip. http://larrys.mine.nu/bilder/trapp/ updated some pictures of the welding... I feel like there's still a way to go until I'm a pro in that area.

 

[perkele]

I see that you are welding a bit too much unnecessarily. There's a risk that the beam might warp. It's sufficient with 2-3 cm of weld at each end of the angles.

 

[zachris]

Just wanted to say that we decided to "close" the space under the sleeping platform by building a wall in front of it. It's a bit sad to remove the "floating" feeling, but the space underneath will be better utilized as a small storage area. Unfortunately, function sometimes has to take precedence over form

We still haven't painted the stairs or chosen materials for the steps, but one of the craftsmen tried spraying a bit of white paint on one of the beams just to see how it looked. It wasn't a low-cost spray, but more expensive stuff, and it actually looked really good. Another thing that struck me the other day is that it might look cool with completely white steps. The next logical thought was that it might even look cool with white beams? Hmm, tough choices there...

If anyone is curious to see the current appearance, there are some pictures in my latest blog post.

http://lundhagen.blogspot.com/2007/10/efter-regn-kommer.html

 

[Snailman]

Fell on a similar staircase here: http://www.elementi.nu/signehill/trappan.htm

 

[BosseHansson]

Quite similar to the link in post #8

 

[Snailman]

okay, at least it's not feedback, as I saved signehill as a PDF on November 7, 2006, and happened to look through my collection of about 120 house constructions as PDFs...

 

[zachris]

Now, after quite a bit of effort, we have got the framework for a stair railing in place. It didn't turn out quite as we had hoped, but on the other hand, it seems incredibly difficult to achieve a good-looking railing! Most railings you see often look unimaginative, boring, or downright ugly!

We chose to build the stair railings in the same style and material as the balcony railings, that is, square profile 70x70x3 mm, which ended up being ridiculously stable and quite okay appearance-wise as it harmonizes well with the look and construction of the staircase. You can see the result in the blog post below if you're curious:

http://lundhagen.blogspot.com/2007/10/trapprcken-svrare-n-man-tror.html

We are very excited to see the finished result of the staircase - painted, clad, and illuminated - because the reddish color it has now (rust protection paint), steps of leftover wood, and all the debris lying around it do not do it justice...

 

[blocce]

I am extremely impressed by your staircases. I am going to design and build a small staircase for my attic loft myself and am considering a similar design as most people show here, but I'm thinking about lacquering the steel with clear lacquer and combining it with oak to get a "rawer" feel. What do you think about clear lacquer and what pre-treatment before?
I'm a bit curious about what the staircases in the thread have approximately cost...

 

[ehsqvis]

I was planning to build a staircase that resembles this one but not L-shaped, just a straight staircase.
Does anyone have tips on a welding company/mechanical workshop in the Gothenburg area that could weld the frame for a staircase like this?

 

[BosseHansson]

ehsqvis: Noted that it also attaches to the wall. Make sure you have a good wall where it will be mounted. I know little about handymen in Gothenburg, check Blocket or Gulasidorna if you don't have contacts.

I have put up my steps on the stairs for testing, attaching a couple of pictures, but if they don't work, the images are available at http://larrys.mine.nu/bilder/trapp

 

[zachris]

@larry78: Super nice - now I'm really eager to finish building my staircase!

So you managed to mount the steps and paint the beam before me - fun! I see we have similar taste, as I'm also planning to paint my beam gray - specifically RAL 7016 (anthracite gray).

I can see it's pleasing to look at, but I assume it's also comfortable to walk on?

Nicely done and thanks for a great contribution to the "Make Swedish Homes a Little Nicer" campaign!