Stairs and lifts

Add a staircase

12

1. 1
   Step 1: Open More tools

   Click More tools at the right end of the tool dock.

2. 2
   Step 2: Pick Stairs

   Stairs opens the list of staircases, starting with Stair core (multi-storey). Lift opens the lift presets.

3. 3
   Step 3: Place it

   Click a preset to add it in the middle of the view, or drag it onto the plan. Press R to turn it 90° (⇧R the other way).

4. 4
   Step 4: Stand it against a wall

   In the stair’s properties, click Align to wall, then click a wall. The stair climbs along that wall, 2 cm off its face. Flip direction turns it round.

5. 5
   Step 5: Resize it

   Drag the handles on the plan to resize or rotate it. A dragged edge snaps flush to a wall face. Press ↵ for All properties.

• Right-click an empty part of the plan, or a room, and choose Add staircase › a preset to put it where you right-clicked.
• The side handles change Width (40–400 cm). The end handles change Tread depth (15–45 cm; 5–40 cm for alternating tread, ladder and attic ladder), a ramp’s Length or a curved stair’s Inner radius. On a spiral, the corner handles scale the radius. The number of steps never changes, so the risers stay as they are.
• Hold ⌥ while you drag a handle to resize without snapping to walls. The rotate handle snaps to 45° steps and to the angle of walls nearby.
• On the plan a stair shows its treads, rails, a zigzag break line at 1.2 m with the treads above it dashed, and an arrow labelled UP. On the floor above it shows as its opening: a dashed outline with the upper treads and a DN arrow.

Stair properties

Select a stair and press ↵ for All properties. A field appears only for the types it applies to. Lengths show in the project’s units; this guide gives them in cm. For how the rise relates to the storey and the slab, see Heights and levels.

• Position has X, Y and Rotation (−360 to 360°, to 0.1°) and a 90° button. Near a wall the hint says Climbs parallel to a wall at the wall’s angle. A locked stair’s position is read only.
• The Level section appears when the stair stands in a sunken or raised room, or already starts off the floor. It says how far the room is above or below the floor, and Climb to the room level fits the rise to the room.
• With the stair core on, a list shows each floor with its steps and risers, such as 16 × 17.5 cm, a warning icon when the risers there are uncomfortable, and Arrives · guard rail on the last floor.
• Select a stair core on a floor above its own and a note says This stair core lives on its floor, with a Go to button. Changes made there apply on every floor.

Change the stair type

Picking another type in the picker at the top of the panel applies that type’s defaults: width, steps, tread, landing, radius, sweep, rails, risers, stringers, material and colour. It keeps the turn direction, the floors it spans and Cut an opening in the floor above. Except when you change to or from a ramp, it also keeps Match floor height, Total rise and Starts.

• Changing to Scissor or Fire escape turns the stair core on.
• Changing to Ramp turns off Match floor height and Cut an opening in the floor above, with a 50 cm rise. Changing a ramp back to a stair leaves Cut an opening in the floor above off.

Comfort checks

Comfort at the bottom of the panel says Comfortable: 2R + T = the step value, or lists what is wrong. The limits follow the project’s building code profile. With the generic rules, risers of 15–19 cm, treads of 25–30 cm, 80 cm of width and 2 m of headroom are comfortable.

• Steep or shallow risers, short or long treads, and a pitch steeper than the code allows.
• The step formula 2R + T outside 60–66 cm; aim for about 63 cm.
• A narrow stair, a narrow spiral (treads under 60 cm long) and a handrail lower than the code asks for.
• An odd number of risers on a switchback, imperial or fire escape stair, and more than 16 risers on a straight, floating, flared or scissor stair.
• No opening in the floor above, or low headroom under the floor or a flight above, with the step where it happens.
• A rise that differs from the storey height, and a ramp steeper than 8.3%. A ramp that isn’t says A gentle ramp.
• Alternating tread, ladder and attic ladder skip the riser, tread and width checks, with a note that the comfort rules don’t apply to steep stairs.

Right-click a stair for Rotate ›, Turn right instead or Turn left instead on turning types, Duplicate, Copy, Cut, Paste here, All properties and Delete. A stair core seen from a floor above can’t be copied there.

Add a lift

Open More tools › Lift and click a preset to add it in the middle of the view, or drag it onto the plan. Drag the handles on the plan to make the shaft smaller or bigger, and press R to turn it.

• Checks warns when the cabin is smaller than 110 × 140 cm, the door is narrower than 80 cm, or the door is wider than its shaft wall. Otherwise it says Fits a wheelchair user with a companion.
• Drag the door on the plan to move it along its wall.
• Right-click a lift for Rotate ›, Move door to the next side (front, right, back, left in turn), Door side ›, Lift type ›, Duplicate, Copy, Cut, Paste here, All properties and Delete.
• Select the lift on a floor above its own and a note says This lift starts on its floor, with a Go to button. Changes made there apply on every floor.

Ride a lift in 3D

In Walk mode, step into the cabin. A Lift panel with one button per floor it serves appears, top floor first, with the current floor lit. Click a floor, or press 1 to 9 (1 is the lowest stop) or PgUp and PgDn for the next stop up or down. While it moves the panel says To the floor.