Changing /moving a Staircase?

[muminthesun]

Looking for advice or any information on how difficult it would be to move or change a staircase?

The house was originally a single story but the attic space was converted approx 20 years ago into bedrooms.The stairs that they added are VERY steep,has anyone changed their stairs or is there a way to make them less steep?

Am I right in thinking a joiner would do the work rather than a builder?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

You need a structural engineer and a builder. Staircases are a building regs hot potato and if you want to sell your house at any point you will probably need all the paperwork in place.

Sorry to be negative - I bought a house with a ladder steep stairs to the attic thinking I could just easily put in stairs. It seems not.

I would get a few architects / structural engineers in to take a look and advise - it costs nothing to get them to quote and you get a lot of useful info.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Sorry - just seen your name - I assumed that you were in UK - if not other local regs may apply.

[muminthesun]

My dad is a structural engineer so he was the one to alert us to the fact they are much steeper than normal.He has also said that he would have never signed off those stairs! But the buiding work may have been some time ago.

We havent 100% completed on the house yet,offer was accepted subject to survery,Dh and myself didnt really consider how steep the stairs were on first viewing[BLUSH].

My dad has said they probably could be changed,but to be honest he's a bit vague about the whole thing but that might be that he doesnt want us to end up buying a problematic property.Just wanted to hear of anyones own experience.

We are in the uk,but used to live overseas hence my name.

[risingstar]

i think you need to get your tape measure out.

you have to ask WHY the stairs are at that angle? my sister did a loft conversion in one house and it really was like climbing up a ladder. they passed building regs and sold it one to a young single guy who thought it was cool.

the reason the stairs were like that was because there was not room to do anything else with them.

so the answer is yes, you could if there is room but people only put non standard staircases in usually if there is no other choice in the first place.

did your dad also knock on all the walls ?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

It depends on how much you love the house. You can always get someone to go round and say exactly how much it will cost to get proper stairs put in - and then knock it off the offer.

NB: if the estate agent is selling the attic rooms as bedrooms they are doing so illegally without the right paperwork. They should be called usable loft or attic room.

You also need to consider head height and whether the floor would have been reinforced when the conversion happened.

Are there similar properties in the street that have had this done? If so, it can be done.

NB: it is a standard seller's trick to say 'oh no that was put in years ago by someone else' when asked about structural changes that have beeen done 'off the record'.

[muminthesun]

We have checked with estate agent and they say all building certificates for changes made to property are all up to date and valid,there is nothing offically "wrong" with the stairs,they just scraped through the building regs and no more.

Here lies the problem.We really love the house,to the point that it may be clouding our judgement over these stairs.Which is silly.

The house is in a very nice area,has 4 bedrooms,lots of space,def more than we could afford normally in this area.Did I mention the asking price had been reduced from 400.00 to 375.00? Another clue to the fact that they cant sell it due to these stairs!!

Should we just admit defeat and find something else? Sorry this was long,x

[muminthesun]

We are in scotland by the way hence the lower property price for what you get.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Oh if they have building regs that shouldn't be a problem as they would have to put in e.g. correct RSJs to support floors. Sorry I was assuming that they were done without paperwork. I still think a builder will be better than a joiner and probably cheaper.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

If you love the house then the stairs really are a minor detail - the cost will probably be around 1% of what you are paying for the property which sounds lovely.

[muminthesun]

Thanks for all your advice Tondelayoschwarzkopf

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Disclaimer - not a professinal - just groping my way through a property development now.