Houses with spiral staircases

[Bloodybridget]

I do a lot of idly browsing houses on Rightmove, and have seen several that are very lovely but only have spiral staircases - that would be an absolute no-no for me unless it was practical and affordable to replace it! I suppose some of them are wide enough so that getting furniture up and down wouldn't be too difficult, but they always look a bit scary to me (DP and I are old-ish). Would you be put off?

I used to clean a house with one, scary trying to carry a Henry hoover up and esp down, very narrow treads too small for my big feet. A pain to clean too.

Ah, interesting that most of you wouldn't consider it - @HainaultViaNewburyPark yes if there was another staircase that would be ok, as long as I could access every room from it. Hadn't even thought about stretchers! Some of the houses I've seen with them were obviously built like that, not too long ago, and it does surprise me. They can look very attractive, of course.

Horrible things, downright dangerous with small kids and anyone not too steady in their feet.

No, not for me either.

We have one. Previous owners put it in as part of an extension. It is wide. We intended to swap it for straight stairs asap but the reality was that it genuinely was a good solution for the space. By the time we had plans and estimates we discovered it was no problem for the children (despite being tiny at the time) and we had managed to get all of our furniture upstairs OK.

We had trouble getting things upstairs in our old house with traditional stairs too, you know when you get the thing to the top then you have to do a sharp turn onto the landing. Wide a wide shallow spiral it is not really worse than that. Although it is easier to carry big things with two people to help keep the angles right.

The only two real problems I have with it are:

• noise: is wood and metal and cannot be carpeted so teenagers thundering up and down it are noisy.
• my knees: if I am going up and down stairs an unusually large number of times in a week then I notice the twisting force makes my right knee ache. Normally no problem.

@StrippedFridge yes, sure, getting furniture up non-spiral stairs can be very difficult! Glad to hear you have very few problems with your staircase. A friend of mine rented a cottage for a couple of years that had the tiniest spiral staircase ever, she is a small person but I could hardly get myself up it when I went to stay!

Back in my young, wild and free days we had a flat with a mezzanine and wooden spiral stairs up to bedroom. They were wooden. I lost count of the number of times I slipped!!

We had one in our first house. I loved it but I did slip a few times (including once with baby in arms) and my cat dropped her kitten ( surprise litter..rescue cat) when carrying one . Kitten was fine thankfully!

Now I'm older...no way!

I was always nervous of them when DS was small. However, now I'm older I plan never to do any type of stairs without a lift ever again!

I loved mine, I never had an issue with them, I can’t imagine why people think they are dangerous ?

A friend rented a swanky flat with one. She had to have her furniture craned in through a window

I don't understand why they can't be carpeted? Stairs with no risers are carpeted individually! A friend had a spiral staircase a few years ago and they had a chandelier type light hanging down the middle; it's on my desirable list for when we move house as it was such an amazing feature.

I have always wondered why they are called spiral staircases? They aren't spiral, they are helical. (Misses point of thread )

I have one, I live in a duplex (flat with attic conversion) but I also have stairs in the communal corridor that lead to a "back door" on the top floor. For furniture moving we use those. Day to day the spiral ones are lovely because they let light through and make the space big and airy. I think it depends on the stairs! My SIL has metal ones in a London house and they're not great, a friend has lovely wooden ones going up the old millstone hole in her old mill house which are big and beautiful.

I lived somewhere without one when I was renting. They are dreadful.

I should say that I had my wooden ones individually carpeted with treads that follow their shape and don't touch the sides (like a rubber) so they can be carpeted.

@QuentinInQuarantino

I should say that I had my wooden ones individually carpeted with treads that follow their shape and don't touch the sides (like a rubber) so they can be carpeted.

Any chance of a photo?

We have a perfectly normal staircase in the house, but we also have a spiral one outside which accesses a room which was the original servant's bedroom and is now a repository for odds and ends, a gym for DH, and contains the hot water cylinders.
I hate this staircase and rarely use it. I would not want one in the house.

I always wanted a spiral staircase...had all sorts of plans about flat pack furniture and a futon style bed too to combat the doubters. I am a bit worried about my knees now....although am not really getting why its worse than normal stairs. I have always been VERY accident prone on stairs though so am now extra cautious and conscientious when using any ...I stop at the top and gather all my concentration.

Maybe I'll put that on the list of must haves for dh browsing Rightmove! :o

We have one in our house put in by the previous owners when it was converted from two houses to one. I had no idea they were so hated, everyone compliments us on it.

Ours is quite large so fine for every day use but a bit of a faff for large pieces of furniture. We have other access to the floors from outside though so furniture is usually moved that way.

I didn't particularly like it when we first bought the house but it's grown on me over the years and I've had 2 babies/toddlers in the house and they are completely fine with it. Our normal Victorian-installed stairs between the upper floors are definitely more of a falling risk and are much longer and steeper.

My friend had a metal one in her starter home, it creaked every time it was used. She didn't stay there long after her baby was born because it would have been too dangerous using it with a bigger wriggly baby.

@StrippedFridge please excuse the patchy walls - we are mid decorating.

I would prefer a normal staircase but there's nowhere to have put one and I'm pleased to have managed to buy a duplex for the price of a single floor flat.

In a perfect world I'd have a staircase that splits in the middle like in the sound of music, or Bridgerton!

@StrippedFridge - also I did those treads myself so I'm sure a proper carpet fitter would do a much prettier job - I live in Spain and carpet is considered horrific here so it was impossible to find a carpet fitter!

We have a cast iron one from first floor to second floor. We've had one (toddler) accident on it in about 13 years. No adult ones.

Oh, and you can unscrew and remove the top section to get furniture up it. We did struggle to get a full-sized dressing table up there (with mirror) but the wardrobes and beds went up there fine (flat pack). The super-king-sized mattress was a struggle.