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Building components

Stair & Level Change Elements

The positions that make up a stair and the elements that carry people safely between levels — treads, risers, the members beneath them, and the guarding at the edge.

10 entries in this category.

Overview

About this category

A stair is described in the language of positions long before it is described in the language of products. A tread is the surface walked on, a riser closes the gap beneath it, a stringer carries them at the edge and a carriage carries them in the middle — and none of those four is fully explained by naming timber, steel or concrete, because each can be realised in all three.

These entries explain what each position contributes and what depends on it. They state no rise, going, pitch, width, headroom or guarding height: those are project-specific determinations set by local requirements, and this library makes none of them.

Boundaries

What this category covers, and what it does not

  • Covers the positions within a stair and a ramp — treads, risers, landings, winders, the members supporting them, the soffit beneath, and the handrail and infill at the guarded edge.
  • Does not cover the guarding ASSEMBLY, which is published as a building system, nor the balustrade post, which is an existing component entry.
  • Does not cover stair coverings, nosing profiles or edge trims: those are published material entries.
  • States no rise, going, pitch, width, headroom, guarding height or loading, and makes no determination that a stair is compliant, adequate or safe.

Browse

Forms and roles in this category

Descriptive labels for what is here. They are a way of reading the list, not a filter and not a ranking.

Forms:Board or sheetContinuous layerLinear memberVoid or cavity
Roles:FinishProtectionSeparationStructureSubstrateSupport

Entries

Stairs & Level Change components

Every entry in this category. Each explains what the element is, what it depends on, and how it relates to materials, systems and junctions.

Void or cavityBalustrade Infill →The zone between the posts, the handrail and the base of a guarding that closes the gap, whether filled with bars, panels or mesh.Linear memberHandrail →The continuous graspable member alongside a stair, ramp or edge that a hand runs along and takes support from.Continuous layerRamp Flight →A continuous inclined trafficked surface between two levels, changing height without steps and without interruption.Linear memberStair Carriage →An intermediate inclined member beneath a flight, introduced because the flight is too wide to be carried by its edge members alone.Board or sheetStair Landing →The level platform at the head, foot or turn of a stair, which interrupts the rise and supports the flights that meet it.Board or sheetStair Riser →The vertical face closing the gap between one tread and the next, present in some flights and deliberately absent in others.Board or sheetStair Soffit Lining →The lining closing the underside of a flight, which turns the sloping space beneath a stair into a finished surface or an enclosed cupboard.Linear memberStair Stringer →The inclined member running along the edge of a flight that carries the treads and delivers their load to the levels at each end.Board or sheetStair Tread →The horizontal surface of one step in a flight — the position a foot lands on, distinct from whatever covering is later applied to it.Board or sheetWinder Tread →A tread that is wider at one end than the other, used to turn a flight without introducing a landing.

Related reference libraries

Components are what materials become and what systems are made of. The three libraries answer different questions and are kept deliberately separate.

Materials Library →Building Systems →