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Custom stair designs.

I've been in the construction trades for close to 40 years now and have had many opportunities to work on special projects. You can see a few of them following this link. In the early 80s I became interested in spiral stairs and have been occasionally working with them ever since. Perhaps 15 years ago I got interested in computers and eventually began using them in stair design. The images below are just a sampling of some of the projects Computer Aided Design, CAD, has helped create.

Several of the projects below were designed for other builders, several were made to help visualize details. I do custom stair design and fabrication if it's called for, but designing for others is also offered. If you have a special situation and you see the benefits of building first with a computer gathering details, please let me know if I can be of assistance. My rates are very reasonable as I like working with stairs and CAD.

Click on the small pictures to bring up bigger ones.
Winding staircase A lady from down south sent me a photograph of a two story winding staircase she was considering duplicating for a home she was building. I used my program and her measurements to develop working drawings she could present to her builder. I'm not sure who put the skids on her project, but as far as I know it was never built. I'd think the costs were going to go through the roof.
Winding stairs I sent her detailed and dimensioned renderings of the main parts so she could gather building estimates. Both flights were intended to be free standing, no underneath supports. She would have been able to take the renderings to a wood shop and priced materials as well as labor, not a minor benefit of CAD.
Curved stairway These next two drawings were for two different buildings but similar winding stairs were needed for each.
Stacked spiral stairs The architect wanted to know exactly the results of tread shapes by using constant radius stringers, or taking tread shapes using eliptical stringers. With CAD it's common to use actual dimensions when designing, as seen here with 10" tread width where the users feet would actually be stepping.
Blueprint spiral staircase Every now and then I'll place one of my CAD models on a submitted print so the owner of the project can see how the landing could work. This picture shows a green landing and a red first step. If I remember right, this man wanted to make sure he could fit between the wall corner and the start of the handrail.
Spiral stair rotation In this one we're making sure the intermediate landing as well as the top one ended where they should. Spirals aren't easy to visualize, especially if you haven't done a few or lived with one for a while.
Spiral stair tread width Another stacked set of spirals where we were ckecking landing positions.
Spiral staircase mounting I built this stair for a builder friend of mine but we first had to show the owner of the house where the bottom step and landing would be. He also had a concern about mounting the landing so I detailed some of the framing around there. The second floor is really a corner opposite the landing but I left it out for clarity.
deck for spiral stair This is an example on how I prefer to mount landings, notched down into the loft edge.
Hole for spiral staircase I also built this set of stacked spirals and took a trip to southern Ohio to install it. I totally made both spirals in CAD, fabricated the parts, then went there and installed them. Without the preliminary CAD work, I doubt the landing would have mounted exactly where they needed to be. You can see more on this stair using this link.
Winding staircase treads I've done very little with solid winder stringers, but this spiral was suggested as a project I might be interested in building. You can see construction photographs following this link.
Spiral stair landing It would be hard to beat having CAD models when you need views of details normal drafting just couldn't accomplish in a reasonable time frame.
Stair balusters Zooming in on specifics helps considerably in resolving misunderstandings. Of interest here was why the back edge of landings aren't routed until the baluster installation was determined.
Tread goings Models can have any of their parts temporarily hidden from view. In this view the center pole is removed as an obstruction to riser fabrication details.
Narrow spiral stair treads As is easily seen here, revolving less than a full revolution makes narrow treads.
Tread rotation Baluster mounts are more easily shown than described in writing. I often use selected views of my models to show relationships in construction.
Square spiral staircase I don't normally add lighting in CAD renderings as it's mostly cosmetics.
CAD spiral stair Lighting does add realism and quite often makes the difference in asthetic onsiderations.
Winding stair handrail Handrail development.
CAD spiral staircase Tread layouts.
Spiral stair dimensions Dimensioning for handrail mounting screw locations.
Stair balusters Main baluster lengths.
Spiral stair balusters Baluster mounting locations.
Contact me through this link. jim@jself.com