Back-to-front stairs in bungalow.

[Tralalaatralalee]

We have recently purchased a bungalow and want to add 2 bedrooms + bathrm in the loft area.
Refurb work has stopped while we try and work out what to do about the stairs.

It seems the best option is for stairs to start at the back of the bungalow and go up towards the front, rather than conventional stairs from the front.

But I'm worried that it will look weird, and be a problem if we come to sell the house.

What do you think? Are back to front stairs ok? What if they start in the kitchen?

Opinions/ideas/thoughts appreciated.

Would you consider a spiral staircase?

I have never really considered that stairs often start at the front, so it wouldn’t be a problem for me.
The kitchen thing could be odd though, although I did live in a little Victorian cottage once with the stairs rising from the kitchem( and going towards the front now I think of it) but the stairs had a door at the bottom.

Our conversion starts in about 6 weeks, our hall is sort of p shaped with the narrow part by the front door so we’re knocking a wall out in the hall and moving it back to created enough space for the stairs to start by the front door, is that a possibility?
I wouldn’t mind the back to front stairs at all but starting in a room rather than the hall would be a bit off putting for me due to noise/smells travelling upstairs.
Another option could be to put a winder in the stairs if there’s the space. That way they’ll be shorter and could give you more options for starting elsewhere.

Would really need to see the floor plan to tell you how we've done it in the last few bungalows we've extended

Don't compromise and put a spiral staircase in - total pain getting things up and down stairs, especially any furniture, washing, etc, etc and I always think they look like a cheap option.

Back to front stairs are fine but stairs starting in the kitchen sounds very weird.

Don’t put in a spiral. We’ve lived in paces where the stairs where in the lounge over the hall and I actually preferred that’ll traditinal stairs by the door, no sneaking in the house and upstairs, felt more inclusive. But depending on your layout kitchen stairs might be strange. Need to see a flood plan

I don’t like stairs starting in the kitchen unless there is a door to the stairs. Noise and cooking smells will transfer up to your bedrooms.

Don’t do a spiral staircase.

I have a vague recollection that you can't have open stairs from the kitchen in new builds or extensions etc due to fire regulations. But I might be wrong. Have you looked into that?

Stairs from the back of the house to the front wouldn't bother me at all. I've never even considered how they normally are. Ours are sideways...

A spiral staircase definitely prevents me from viewing a house. Location & direction of staircase wouldn't bother me.

I didn't think spiral staircases were even legal anymore. My sister did a renovation and moved stairs from the traditional to start from the back. Made far more sense, the only issue is the fact that it is a house I was very familiar with so I keep heading the wrong way 😁

My parents have a c1700 house and that has stairs going up from the kitchen. I have never really thought about it tbh. It's just how their house is.

Thanks all, for your responses. I will try to put up a sketch of the floor plan - although without the staircase in situ most of the other walls can't be confirmed! I'm also concerned about the impact upstairs.

If the kitchen start point is a no-no then we could put in a winder the other way so they opened into family room. Or have them straight, but then they will open straight in front of rear French doors and muck up the dining area I was planning.

@fiftyandfat - spiral staircases look gorgeous but don't seem very practical to me (I could be wrong!). I'd also be worried about putting off future buyers as @onedayiwillmissthis mentioned.

@SleepingInYourFlowerbed - oh I didn't think about that! Will have to look into regs.

@Toomanycats99 and @Ohyesiam - yes I think I associate stairs from kitchen/odd places with older/quirky houses

Also we are going to have a secondary kitchen (in garage) so hopefully the main kitchen (doesn't that sound grand!) will not be too smelly.

We live in a bungalow with a loft conversion, stairs are back to front. It was the tidiest option, more space under the stairs. They are in our dining room.

get a lift installed.

My grandparents have a converter bungalow. The stairs are in what was the dining room (next to the kitchen) and run back to front. I've never thought it was strange

I think you would be wise to invest in an architect. You can't have open stairs from a kitchen for fire regulations.

Nothing weird about stairs going up from the back, rather than the front. Very convenient, actually, if doing so widens the hallway by adding the understairs space to the entrance.

You need an architect technician or staircase designer to take measurements and measurements because it’s really hard to know things like how long the stairs need to be and head height when you come up otherwise (we have recently put new stairs in a bungalow).

I love floorplans, please give me a floorplan!

Are there other bungalows locally like your that have gone up into the loft. If so you may be able to see their plans on your council planning website if there are not too old. Bavk to front is fine but i would want in kitchen. Most friend with bungalows have down stairs at 90 degrees to front door.

We have the set up you describe. 1920s bungalow with stairs from the (large dining) kitchen at the back of the house going forwards to the front. The upstairs was done well before we moved in so I don't know about building regs.

I've never considered the back to front thing- even when we first saw the house. People almost always comment that they're surprised by the size of the house when they get to the stairs so maybe it does belie the size as they're unexpected by this point.

Things I would think about (assuming building regs allow):

• would you have a door at the bottom? It'd stop the heat escaping upstairs.

• is your kitchen big enough for the traffic going thru? (Our kitchen is big and the upstairs is spare rooms and a study so not masses of traffic so it's totally fine).

We have our stairs in the dining room and it works fine. They are at one end and go up and turn 180 (don't know what thats called)

Actually makes the dining room which in our last house was underutilised a sort of double-functional space.

Doesn't cause issues as if we're using the dining room which is usually only when we have guests then we're not up and down stairs to the bedrooms anyway (have downstairs cloakroom).