Floating stair designs have become an increasingly popular style being built into many new homes, with more flexibility in style designs and structural plans, they’ve become the first option home builders choose.
With so many variations available to create your floating staircase, the line between a floating staircase and other designs, like straight staircases, are becoming more blurred. Today we’ll be going through what actually defines a floating staircase from these hybrid styles.
What is a Floating Staircase?
In technical terms a floating staircase is one which has eliminated or reduced the appearance of its structural members to make it look like the stair treads are floating in the air. The support for these stairs is provided by a wall which the treads are cantilevered from or is hidden under the treads, similar to a backbone or spine.
These stairs are becoming more and more popular in the creation of bright and modern homes that create a large sense of space in smaller homes. They remove visual obstructions and maximize the living space in your home.
They allow more flexibility within their style and visual appearance in comparison to other staircase designs. They can be paired with several different types of railing and handrail options; often, they are installed with glass, cable, or rod railing. Many of these options come with components that can be hidden in the posts themselves: to enhance the illusion of floating.
What Designs Define a Floating Staircase?
Floating stairs will look as though they’re levitating through the air, although their design provides more stability and strength than that, they’ll still appear to be in this uplifted position by the end of their installation.
At Ackworth House we define floating stairs as any staircase with open risers (the space between the treads). This means that the stair treads are not connected to one another. Rather, they are connected by one or more stair stringers that run beneath the treads or along the sides of your stairway.
Our floating staircases are always designed with no supporting walls underneath the stairwell. If installing a floating staircase, the stringers will only be fixed to the floors at the top and bottom of each flight. If there is a supporting wall to the side this is a design style, we call a cantilever staircase.
The last design feature that will classify your staircase as a floating design is the stringer support system used in its base design. Stairs with the stringer support structure concealed in the wall (like our Suspendo design) appear as though they are truly floating. These are sometimes referred to as floating treads.
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If you have any questions about our range of Floating Stair Designs or need more information about any other staircase designs we have available contact one of our experts or view the range of staircase styles available on our website