Stairwell editing
The stairwell is the overall space that the stair takes up. This outer boundary of the stair comprises its dimensions in the plan view, its total height, and the position of all the steps and any landings.
Note however that the thickness of the stringboards can be included or set outside of the stairwell.
Also be careful not to confuse the stairwell with the well hole, the latter is the hole made in the ceiling of the upper floor and is used in combination with the headroom control feature.
More information:
Essentials: basic design continued
It’s possible to directly edit the stairwell, which in turn edits all components of the stair.
To enter stairwell editing mode, double click on the boundary edge of the stair. In the image below, we’ve hovered over the correct spot: the flight name is displayed, the line we’ll be editing also goes a darker blue.
Note that the Display mode should be set to All, or to Stairwell; this will ensure we can access and click on this line.
If we want to edit the stairwell at the point where a landing is present, the same method applies:
After double clicking, we can edit the active line by adding and moving anchor points, and also by dragging the line itself to create a curve.
Below we’ve added two new anchor points (click twice on the line to add a point) and moved the corner inwards to create a cut out, perhaps required to accommodate an external structural feature.
Dragging and clicking to the grid is a nice way to test this feature. Alternatively, the points can be placed and moved accurately using the coordinate system.
Below we’ve created a flare out at the bottom of the stair, first by dragging the last point out and to the left, and then by adding a 2nd point in line with the initial flight width.
And now, as a 2nd stage, dragging the bottom straight section to create the curve we want.
As a final touch, with the curve selected, right click and select Smooth the final end.
Here’s the result:
This is a similar result to the Add a join feature, but here we first position the end point where we want it.
The Add a join feature instead calculates that end position based on a defined radius.
More information:
Finally, let’s take a straight stair to show another option within stairwell editing.
We’ll start with a straight stair, enter stairwell editing mode, then drag the left edge inwards to create a curve. Then we’ve set the radius to 12000 to create the gentle curve we want.
With the curved flight still selected, right click and select Copy the curvature:
And then right click on the straight flight and select Paste the curvature to copy across an identical shape.
StairDesigner knows that the curve is inwards rather than simply copying another identical shape that bows out.
