The best way to fit more house in a set piece of land is usually to build an extra floor – but before you can do that, you will need to figure out a way to connect the first floor with the top one. At this point, many new and inexperienced house planners make one vital mistake: they assume that stairs can be just fit inside an empty room as an afterthought.

On average, for stairs that are supported by risers, wood stair treads will have a thickness of one inch (2.5cm). For stairs with open risers, the stair tread must be at least one and a half inches thick (3.8cm).

Whether you’re building a new staircase or adding some safety features to your existing stairs, we’ll help you answer questions like, “Which side should handrail be on stairs?” “How many steps can you have without a handrail?” “How thick do your handrails need to be?” “How far out from the wall should you mount the handrails?”

A staircase provides easy and quick access to upper floors of the house, but aside from serving a functional purpose, it also increases the aesthetic appeal of the property. If you’re thinking of constructing a staircase, you should first get to know the different parts of a staircase and their purpose.