Building your dream home is an exhilarating journey, and every detail contributes to bringing your vision to life. In this blog post, we’ll explore the profound benefits of customizing your staircase – a crucial element often underestimated in home design. Discover why iStairs, your trusted stair contractor in California, is the ideal partner for turning your staircase dreams into reality.

1. Express Your Style with Custom Stairs: Unleash your creativity by opting for a personalized stair design from iStairs. As your dedicated stair contractor, we empower you to choose the color, material, and accents that resonate with your style. Elevate your home’s aesthetic with a staircase that seamlessly integrates into your living space, whether you prefer a rustic, modern, fancy, or simple ambiance.
2. Enhance Home Value with a Stair Remodel: A stunning staircase does more than add aesthetic value; it enhances your home’s overall worth. iStairs specializes in stair remodel services, ensuring your property stands out in the market. Should you decide to sell, a captivating staircase becomes a compelling selling point, justifying a higher price tag and leaving a lasting impression on potential buyers.
3. Safety and Durability Tailored to Your Needs: At iStairs, we prioritize safety and durability by allowing you to choose materials that align with your family’s specific requirements. Whether you need sturdy balusters for a family with kids or sleek glass railings for responsible adults, our stair renovation services cater to your lifestyle. Customize your staircase to reflect your taste while ensuring it meets the functional needs of your household.

Prioritize safety and style with iStairs. Call us today to discuss your stair renovation needs and create a staircase that stands the test of time!

4. Your Trusted Stair Contractor – iStairs, Inc.: To bring your staircase dreams to life, partner with iStairs, your one-stop-shop for staircase excellence in California. As a leading stair contractor, we offer a seamless blend of vision, engineering expertise, and creativity. Choose from our extensive design portfolio or opt for personalized stair parts that truly define your home’s character.

Your staircase is more than a functional element; it’s an integral part of your home’s character. Don’t underestimate its significance. Ready to give your staircase a makeover? Call iStairs today and elevate your living space with a staircase that reflects your unique style and meets the needs of your family. Choose iStairs, where expertise meets innovation, and let us transform your vision into a staircase masterpiece!

With the situation the world is in right now, hygiene has become more critical than ever. People have started to be more conscious of their surroundings, especially those frequently being used or touched by others. And while it is hard to control such factors in public areas, there’s a lot we can do to make sure our homes stay more hygienic. 

It’s very common in the United States to have a carpeted staircase. After all, there is great merit in having so. According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, more than 1 million Americans injure themselves on stairs each year. While most cases only result in minor injuries, it is estimated that these accidents’ direct and indirect costs amount to $92 billion annually. Carpet staircases provide better cushioning and traction compared to wood. They also trap heat, which helps warm your house during the colder months.  

However, carpet staircases are very unhygienic. They harbor all kinds of dirt, dust, pet dander, pests, etc. They are also painfully hard to clean. What makes it worse is that staircases are high-traffic areas within the home, making them more susceptible to these. 

Having a wooden staircase is a more hygienic option. You may find yourself sweeping it often, but it is only because the dirt doesn’t sink deep into it, unlike on carpet. 

Think about all these things that may have been hiding under your carpet staircase: 

Bugs

Carpets can be a home for different kinds of bugs. Bed bugs, fleas, dust mites, and carpet beetles are notable ones. The environment lets them proliferate and makes them difficult to remove. You wouldn’t want your staircase to be a breeding ground of pests. They can bring you and your family all kinds of diseases.  

Molds

Another big problem with carpet is that it absorbs many fluids and moisture. If you spill any food or drink on it, it will seep deep into the carpet fibers very fast. That creates a perfect environment for growing molds. Molds can give your house an unpleasant smell, and the spores they produce can trigger allergies.  

Skin

Yes, skin. The average human sheds about 8 pounds of dead skin each year, leaving a trail of dead skin cells wherever they go. If you have a carpeted staircase, some of those probably got trapped between the fibers, where they become food for dust mites. Nasty.  

Pollen

At certain times of the year, pollen becomes a real problem for those suffering from hay fever. Carpet staircases don’t help at all. When pollen seeps into the house through the doors and windows, or even by hitching on your clothes, they may find their way to the carpet, sticking there for a long time.  

Pet dirt

If you own a pet, it’s pretty much automatic that some of their dirt gets trapped in the carpet. But even without a pet, your shoes pick up bits of animal waste just by simply walking outside. This dirt gets wiped off onto the carpet when you get home. 

These things are what’s lingering in your carpet staircase, even if you thought you’d cleaned them thoroughly. It’s challenging to be sure that your carpet staircase is completely clean; that’s why it’s more advisable to have a wooden staircase at home. You won’t have to worry about the things mentioned above with a wooden staircase. After all, there are things you can do to make your wooden staircase less accident-prone. 

So if you’re planning to switch to a wooden staircase, contact iStairs! We are your number 1 custom stair builder in Northern California! We can build a staircase for you just the way you like it. Call us at 844-STAIR-4U, and let’s get started! 

Stairs are an integral part of up-and-down households, buildings, and other business establishments with two floors or more. In a previous article, we talked about stairway design ideas and how to jazz up your stairs to add oomph, flavor, and personality to them — and ramp up the stairway experience (pun intended). 

This time, let’s focus on the underlying structure underneath the design we see. Let’s go through the different types of stairs you can choose from when designing your space, their advantages, and their disadvantages. 

Straight staircase 

A straight staircase is probably the most basic, common, and simple of all types of staircases. Its parts are usually available pre-cut or pre-fabricated in home stores, making it more affordable than other kinds of stairs in terms of the construction process. 

Advantages: 

• Doesn’t need any support other than the attachments at the top and bottom 
• Railings and handrails are easier and faster to install 
• Easier to dress up because it is one straight line 
• For the user, it is easier to use when going up and down 
• Blends in easily with minimalist or simplistic interior design 

Disadvantages: 

• For the detail-oriented with design and space, they take up more linear space 
• They do not offer privacy 
• Dangerous in terms of falling down because one misstep could lead to a long fall 
• One flight can only accommodate 16 steps. More would require a central landing which will then take up more space.

 L-shaped staircase 

An L-shaped staircase is a flight of stairs with a turn, either in the middle or near the bottom towards the landing or floor. This is also a common design because it takes up less space and is easier to decorate. It is also called the “dog-legged” or “quarter turn” staircase.  

In some cases (and where there is more space), L-shaped stairs are divided into three flights and, therefore, have two turns. This is referred to as the “threefold” stair design. 

Advantages: 

• The landing can be decorated and even be used as a functional space 
• Takes up less space and can be placed in corners 
• There’s a break in climbing up and going down (easier to use) 
• They serve as a barrier between floors and offer more privacy 
• They work with acoustics within four walls and help in sound transmission 

Disadvantages: 

• They are more complex to build and are, therefore, more expensive 
• They require more materials for turn and landing support 
• Handrails are more complex to design and construct 

U-shaped staircase 

A U-shaped staircase is a staircase where you do a 180-degree-turn when you climb it at the landing, also called a switchback. Because of this, this stair design is also known as the “switchback” or “half-turn” stairs. 

Advantages: 

• More visually appealing than a straight staircase 
• Wider landing which you can have fun with decorating 
• Can also be installed in corners and are, therefore, space savers 
• The landing provides extra space and can become a useful nook 

Disadvantages: 

• They are more difficult to build 
• The turn may make it difficult to move furniture up and down the stairs 

Winder staircase 

Winder stairs are sort of like L-shaped stairs but — instead of a landing at the turn — there are triangular or pie-shaped steps to keep the flight continuous at the turn. There are no stops. This stair design is making a comeback along with the rising popularity of tiny homes. 

Advantages: 

• They require less space than the L-shaped stairs and other stair styles 
• They are visually attractive in that they showcase a “seamless” transition between floors 

Disadvantages: 

• They are trickier to navigate especially for the accident-prone 
• They are harder to design and construct handrails for 
• The turn steps require support like the usual landing and will cost more 

Spiral staircase 

Did we just make you sing, “I love you more today that yesterday!”? Fun, isn’t it? The spiral staircase (namesake of the popular 1960’s pop band) is considered a novelty design that is nice to look at, perfect for small spaces, but can be quite hard to navigate. 

(Let’s put it this way: They are nice to look at but not as nice to go up or down on.) 

Advantages: 

• It is perfect for lofts (one of those stair designs that fall under “corner stairs”) 
• It is fun to design and nice to photograph and look at as a design feature 
• The steps go around a central pole. Hence, this design does not require much in terms of support. 
• It is easier to construct 

Disadvantages: 

• Only one person at a time can go up and down 
• Not for the accident-prone since the inner part of the steps are narrow (the solution is to make the steps wider or to increase the diameter) 
• Hard to move furniture up and down if it is the only way up and through 

Corner staircase 

Corner stairs are commonly seen outdoors or in decks when a home or building owner wants to maximize the space leading to the entrance or deck and build a “wraparound” staircase with three sides.  

Advantages: 

• Adds to the access points of the building or home for three-sided stairs 
• Contributes to the uniqueness of the design in cases where steps leading up a home or establishment are built at the corner instead of the usual middle part of a facade 
• Can require only one bannister in the middle that can be used for both sides or for each corner 

Disadvantages: 

• May feel strange to navigate for those not used to this type of stair design 
• Not for the accident-prone as the sharp corners may cause real damage 

Split staircase 

Nothing can give a home a grander feel than the split staircase, also known as “bifurcated” stairs. It is probably the most common stair design in movies or television series where a character is portrayed as being very rich (think “The Sound of Music” and the Von Trapp home). 

The split staircase can be designed two ways: first, with steps leading to a landing where you find steps to your left or right; second, with two sets of stairs leading up to a landing that leads to one flight of stairs going up. Very fitting for the foyer at the main entrance of a home. 

Advantages: 

• Makes a grand statement for your home (it is not called the “grand dame of stairs” for nothing) 
• It can serve as a point of interest in your home, depending on its design 
• The lines add to the depth of your space and give the illusion of an even bigger space 

Disadvantages: 

• Large means expensive, with all the support its construction requires 
• May require a lot of space which not all can afford nowadays 

There you have it: the most common types of stairs and their advantages over the other as well as their disadvantages. Your stair design of choice is completely up to you and however, you wish to maximize your space (and decorate it, for that matter). 

Related blogs:

How to Choose the Right Staircase for Your House

14 Stairway Design Ideas

Creative Staircases for Tiny Houses 

iStairs, Inc. is a residential and commercial stair contractor specializing in production homes, single homes, and remodelling.

View our Contact Us page for hours and directions. We look forward to helping you build the custom staircase of your dreams!