Building a Staircase: Design

The next stage of the project is to build the staircase that will lead up to our new 2nd floor (the loft). The loft was framed out over a two periods: just before we started the roof and just before we moved in; it sits over the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

Cut-away view from digital 3D model (used during design phase) showing how the new staircase leads up-to 2nd floor loft

Developed during our design phase back in the summer of 2010 (!), the staircase will consist of 3 parts:

• The first flight of stairs starts at the edge of the bedroom door (where the floor was extended) and runs up to a landing . This will be an "open riser" stair, meaning the vertical elements of the stair (known as risers) are gone. Because the stair sits over the entrance to our terrace (with glass doors), we did not want to block the light, so not having a risers will allow light to pass through the staircase.
• The second part is the landing, which is bolted into the exterior brick wall (just above the door to the terrace).
• The final part is the 2nd flight of stairs, which is turned 90 degrees and starts at the edge of the landing and goes up to the loft. Because everything is so tight, this second flight will pass through the bedroom after passing through the structural wall opening that was framed out yesterday.

While the design intent was established long ago, I only developed the actual detailed design of how it will be built over the last few weeks. These drawings were initially done by hand - once they were finished, I submitted them to Building Control (the London version of NYC's Building Department). After a few minor revisions, Building Control approved the design for structural integrity and deemed it compliance with the UK Building Regulations (similar to NYC's "Building Code").

3D hand sketch showing the structural elements of the staircase

This approved design details how the landing becomes a structural element that will be bolted into the brick wall on one side and fastened to the structural stud wall on the other. Because the first flight of the stair has no risers,  each tread (the horizontal "step") is notched into a large 2"x8" structural stringer (the diagonal element) on each side. This will make the flight incredibly strong while still allowing light to pass through. This flight is then attached to the landing using heavy screws and steel plates.

Section sketch showing the primary stringer and steel plate that assists in the connection to the landing.

One of the design ideas that made the stair more difficult to build was the idea of keeping the 1st flight a few inches away from the wall. The idea is to allow light to pass through this gap - both from the terrace door, but also from a light cove that will eventually built above (in the ceiling at the edge of the 2nd floor) - allowing the light to pass through should not only provide additional lighting for the stair, but should also create a great looking effect as the light washes down the wall.

From a structural perspective this mean that this 1st flight could only be held at the top and bottom, not also on the sides, as with most stairs. Because the landing is itself partially cantilevered, this meant that only through the combination of both landing and stair would the entire assembly actually be strong enough. This was achieved by allowing the primary stringer to be attached to the side of the landing using an additional piece of 2"x8" wood (creating a heavy angled "L" shape) that's stiffened by a heavy steel plate at the joint. This angled "L" shape will act almost like a column to hold the hanging end of the landing - this can best be seen in the section sketch (above) and plan sketch (below).

While everything looks good on paper, we'll soon see how it well it works in reality...

Plan view of landing and how 1st flight of stairs is fastened to it.

The Big Push

Happy New Year, readers!!

You may have noticed there's been no activity on this blog for the past few weeks. That's because since mid-December both Andre and I have been in New York, enjoying (like many others) the festive season, and (maybe just us?!) going home every night to a comfortable and furnished apartment rather than a construction site!

Of course, that doesn't mean that our London project is not on our minds. In fact, in the course of our many discussions about how 2012, we've openly acknowledged that the state of affairs is getting a little tiring. So we've decided that 2012 is going to be the year of the Big Push.

Last year there was really only so much we could do in terms of the construction. As 2011 began, we were still just trying to make the place habitable, notably by putting a roof on it. Financial constraints limited how much we could do, and how quickly we could do it, and partly dictated the decision to do the bulk of the building ourselves. Last year the whole project was still so overwhelming that looking at the big picture was absolutely impossible.

But now that most of the heavy construction is finished, we can just about start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So we've decided that we need to more aggressive in terms of our time frame this year, and really focus our attention and resources on getting this done! To that end, we took one of our biggest decisions yet: we've even decided to postpone our wedding, tentatively scheduled for this summer, so that we put all our energy (well ,outside of our jobs, obviously) into finishing this flat...

Sourcing Tiles

The bathroom construction has gotten far enough along that it's time to pick out and order tiles! This is a huge step for us, psychologically - if we're starting to select finishes, then it means we're finally beginning to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel of construction.

We have actually managed to accumulate almost four dozen stone samples! But (as with everything else related to this project!) it was a bit of a journey to get to this point...

The piles of stone tile samples

We had initially looked at tile over a year and a half ago, back when we were optimistic that construction would be relatively quick and painless, and before things got complicated. At that time, we had visited several tile shops in and around London, collected around a dozen samples and had picked out a few options we liked: dark(ish) porcelain tiles from Spain. But as the bathroom construction progressed, and after actually living in the flat for many months, I started having doubts about those porcelain tiles: they now felt too dark, and too "perfect". Considering how much character the ceiling now has and our intention to re-use the old wood floor planks, I had a gut feeling that we should go with a natural stone that was lighter in color.

Two types of slate from a supply shop in Vauxhall: a honed wine colored (left) and a riven-cut "oyster" ( right)

A type of limestone they called "Barcelona", but that was not readily available.

That meant starting the search for tiles from scratch. At least (having spent time doing it a year and a half ago), I already knew of a few good places - but I had forgotten how far away and how spread out across the city these shops were. As a result, I ended spending close to a week running around London collecting samples and determining availability.

Just outside the shop in Vauxhall - you can see the "Shard" under construction. Designed by Renzo Piano, soon to be the tallest building in Europe when completed

The showroom of a shop that specializes in stone tile - located on the edge of Southwark & Southfields

A showroom wall with different types of stone

A marble installation

Eventually we started to realize that "Aglaya" really wanted a colorful and varied stone, while I was gravitating towards a cleaner, simpler limestone. I had envisioned the bathroom as having two different stones: one for the shower area and another for the rest of bathroom. Because I was extremely taken by a warm toned limestone (with a hint of blue) called Batieg Azul (which came from Portugal and Spain) we started focusing our efforts on finding a second stone that would be more colorful but would also complement this limestone.

The Bateig Azul installed in a showroom mock-up

A detail of the Bateig Azul limestone

We soon decided that slate should be our second stone. I knew that there were hundreds of types of slate - in my New York office, we have several drawers full of slate samples from a specialty supplier there, but for some reason I could only find a few options in London. Eventually I found a specialty supplier of slate in Finchley (north London) with several dozen options, including a copper colored slate that "Aglaya" absolutely loved.

Once we returned to the flat, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the copper slate really worked well against the limestone. We slept on it for a few days, tried other options, but the combination of copper slate and Bateig Azul remained our favorite.

The honed Copper Slate on top of the Bateig Azul

We decided not order the stone before I return to New York, but "Aglaya" can place the order a week before I return to London again...

Roof vs. Plumbing

We have a big decision to make this week: should we finish the roof so we can take the scaffolding down - or continue with the plumbing work so we can have hot water and a working shower?

It's a tough choice - quality of life vs. saving money (we are renting the scaffolding by the week). Because of the cash flow situation right now, we can only do one at a time - not both at the same time. Here are the issues:

• It turns out the plumbing will actually cost almost 3x more than finishing the roof - after a long discussion, we think it makes more sense to finish what we can afford at the moment, rather than do only part of the plumbing - one point for the roof. 
• If we can finish the roof, then every week we'll have more money to apply towards the plumbing by saving on the scaffolding - another point to the roof. 
• The breathable membrane (that has been keeping the roof watertight without the slates) is rated for up to 4 months of exposure to the UV rays in the sun. It's almost exactly 3 months today, so we should really get them covered within the next month. Another point to the roof.
• If we finish the plumbing we can take a hot shower in the flat - one point to the plumbing. 

So with a score of 3 to 1...the roof wins!

Looks like when I return to London on Saturday, I'll be spending the next 2.5 weeks on the roof finishing it with the goal of getting the scaffolding down before I head back to New York...