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Staircases seem pretty simple. They are designed to create easy access from one floor to another. It may look like they are just stairs, but a staircase actually consists of several different parts. If you are new to staircase design, then you are probably asking yourself this. “What do all these terms mean?” Knowing the difference in all these parts can make designing your own staircase pretty simple. If you are thinking about tackling the job of designing your own staircase, then make sure you know and understand what all of these different parts are. Here is a handy guide that will help shed some light on all the parts that make up a staircase.

Let’s focus on the stairs themselves.

A staircase is actually made up of two completely different components. The first part is the staircase carcass. This is the part of the staircase that actually consists of the stairs themselves. The staircase carcass consists of six different parts.

Tread – This is the part of the staircase that most people are familiar with. This is the part that you step on.

Riser – This is the vertical part between each tread. If you were standing on the Tread and you pushed your foot forward until your toes stopped, your toes would be touching the Riser. Some staircase designs don’t use a Riser. This gives the stairs an open look to them

Rise – The Rise is not actually a part of the staircase. It is a measurement. If you measure from the top of the Tread to the top of the next Tread above it, this would be the Rise.

String or Stringer – This is where all of the support comes from. This part of the staircase supports all of the other pieces.

Nosing – This is actually part of the Tread. It is the section of the Tread that overlaps the Riser.

Going – This is not an actual physical part of the staircase. Like the Rise, the Going is another measurement. The Going is the distance from the face of one Riser to the face of another.

The Staircase Balustrade.

This is the other component of a staircase. It consists of four different parts. This is the part of the staircase that was designed for safety. It consists of the following pieces.

Handrails – This is the most popular part of the Balustrade, and it is self-explanatory.

Newel – This is the long post that anchors the Balustrade. Without this part, the entire staircase Balustrade would be pointless.

Baserail – This is the section of the Balustrade that is located under the vertical posts.

Volute – This is more of a design element than anything, it is not always needed.

That’s it! Now you know what all of the pieces of a common staircase are.

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