Help: to replace the stairs or not- massive dilemma

[bananashoes]

We need an unbiased opinion.

We’ve started work on the house we’ve just purchased. We had a specific budget laid aside for flooring, knocking through a wall and decorating.
Since we’ve hired the builders, I’ve managed to fall down our main staircase 2 times and severely injured myself. First time I ended up with 10 stitches in the top of my foot, the second time I reopened the stitches and broke toes. I am 8 months pregnant. But the stairs are narrow and steep in quite a small space with just barely enough headroom.

They are winding at the top, which is where I fell once and another time towards the middle. The carpet on them is about 20-25 years old and slippery and worn as can be.

Current measurements are 14 treads, 210 go and 195 rise. The winders are very narrow and a window is in front of them. I’ll attack photos.
We’ve had some staircase guys out who seem to think we can drop a tread- so 13, lift the rise to 200/205 and increase the go to 240. But we will run into slight headroom issues- cutting into the already small room above. However it’s a concession we are willing to make so I or my children don’t die on the stairs

The builder seems to think it’s an unnecessary expense after we carpet and add more hand rails- but I’m worried he feels like that bc we are having to extract decorating from our building budget (roughly 4-5k).
It does feel insane to spend £4K on losing a step, and adding what works out to being 13” total or an 1” each step.

Please give me your thoughts- I’m going nuts.

You’re bonkers to do that imo. Where’s the handrail?

It's a hell of a dilemma when you feel you could make your house safer. We have very steep and narrow staircases and I fell on them a few times in our first few years here. But then I started taking care actively when I was using the stairs, being mindful of staying safe, and I haven't fallen on them in years. Carpet makes a massive difference too. I think I'd invest in a very grippy carpet or runner because losing a step won't make as much of a difference... Also, you need a rail on the other side imo.

Sorry bonkers to do which?

Thank you- it’s exactly this. I have soon to be 4 children. My toddler is an absolute lunatic on the stairs and I’m terrified someone is going to really hurt themselves. Especially me post c section in a few weeks with a newborn.

equally, losing a single step doesn’t feel much but an extra inch of tread could actually make a massive difference however the step would be higher so still treacherous in their own way.

I agree about the carpet. I’ve also bought loads of grippy socks

That looks like a fairly normal staircase to me! Just get a handrail put on the other side and teach young children how to go up and down safely - looks like you have stairgates already.

imo they don't look too bad. and i'm very clumsy. appreciate two falls down is very scary esp when pregnant
i would install a handrail and a new carpet and see how it goes first

Bonkers to spend that money on the stairs. Get grippy as fuck carpet, a mop handrail, and after you have the baby you’ll see it was pregnancy “imbalance of centre of gravity” that was the issue. the staircase looks pretty normal in those pics. What do your friends and family say about them? If they say the stairs are unusually tight/diff to navigate then think again.

These are the same as my stairs. We've never managed to fall down them though 🤔 I'd say perhaps you lost your step on slippery carpet or tripped over the stairs gate at the top, or lost your balance with weight of pregnancy?

Replace the carpet and remove the gate (if you're comfortable to do that) but I wouldn't bother spending 4k to do building work to the stairs unless they are old and collapsing.

The stairs look entirely normal.

Maybe you just need to pay more attention, I don't mean that nastily but I'm disabled and have bad balance co-ordination and I have to take things much more carefully than able people but it honestly blows my mind sometime how many people don't just slow down and pay more attention to avoidable things.

Changing a staircase is a pretty expensive and major job. If you find the carpet slippy I would start their and change it for something 'grippy' it will be far cheaper and as PP said add a handrail.

Yes it seems that way but the top part that you step on is quite narrow. I’d say the first third of my foot hangs off, but it is made worse by the slippery carpet.

I've just counted mine for comparison. We have 13 but the bottom one is a big square where your floor is iyswim? I'd try a new carpet first though.

edited to add ours also curve at the top. Go down the outside wider bit.

Everyone says they are a bit steep and the tread narrow but everyone also it’s a pain in the ass decision especially bc the carpet is so crap on them. The loft extension staircase is the size the stair guy says he can make them and they do feel more stable bc of their tread but they are bigger steps. We are having the floors done so I cant imagine doing that work and then later replacing the staircase

@bananashoes oh no, how worrying! I’m sorry you had such a fall, and yes being pregnant and post c-section probably makes this feel very urgent. Replace the carpet on the stairs straight away. You have three kids and are 8 months pregnant. That might change your view and be enough. It feels urgent decision because you’re doing the reno but you can do a staircase change later.

If you did change the staircase, I would take away any winding. So extend the bannister at the top towards the window and a staircase straight down to the ground. It will come further forward, I don’t know what room there is in front of the staircase. If there isn’t room in front, I would have the staircase do a tight wind at the bottom 2 steps, not as far to fall but still dangerous.

The gate wasn’t there so it wasn’t the issue. I think the biggest issue is the tread of the stair when stepping down starts at the middle part of the ball of my foot- combine that with slippery carpet and no handrail and the winding and the pregnancy or my toddler distracting me with his own lack of safety means I just lose my balance likely.

I was expecting some of the really steep narrow stairs you get in terraced houses!

I’d put a new carpet down and a handrail if you want. You will get used to the layout of them and will automatically step on the wider part. Your kids will learn to negotiate them too.

Remove the carpet, don't wear socks, you and the kids can bum shuffle down them. Having fallen twice it's not worth you risking falling again

A your stage of pregnancy, and for your dc, it may make sense to bum shuffle.

I don’t think the staircase looks too bad.

My attempt at a drawing 😂

I think everyone saying they look quite normal is what makes this such a dilemma because they do look normal. However they are just narrow enough that they feel precarious and bit steeper than normal

Haha thank you for this- the stair guy is coming by soon and I’ll ask him his thoughts. The winders are treacherous

The part you step on is 21 cm and I wear a size 6 UK which is 24.13 cm so a good chunk of my foot hangs off

That looks like a normal staircase to me. Our new staircase has 240mm treads and 210mm risers. I don’t think a few cm here or there would make much difference. I would just replace the carpet, and maybe install a handrail along the wall if you’re still worried.

If he’s dropping a step anyway it would only be one additional step at bottom. And you could do one step down onto a square from the wooden flooring and same number of steps down. So one step down and then a run of 12 steps.

Your balance and your core muscles are affected by your pregnancy, which no doubt contribute to your difficulty on those stairs. I grew up in a house with similar stairs (worse, even, with multiple turns and changes of step size) and never once fell down them. Visiting my parents when heavily pregnant, the stairs were terrifying. Far harder to navigate. I felt dangerously unsafe on them.

We tend to walk closer to the railing, which is where the turning steps are smallest. You need to consciously go wide and slow.

A banister on the wall would help you enormously. Not just as something to grip, but also to help you consciously go wide around the turn.

And you said it yourself - the carpet. Replace it urgently.

Sorry to hear your accident on them.
You mention there's barely enough headroom. With more go (making stairs less steep) there'd be even less headroom? Often stairs in uk houses are steep but constrained above by living areas or roofing. Yours look uk bog standard to me, complete with badly designed but easy to build 1/4 turn.
If there's the headroom and you can afford the work I'd say do it. Replace the 1/4 turn with a landing maybe as those uneven goes over the way down are deadly, then replace the lower sections with something less steep.
Alternatively, if space is constrained but you can afford it, ask about balanced stairs - they are stairs where the turn is shared over many steps, calculated to keep the go even throughout - but it's not common in the uk and so not cheap.
Finally, railing. If the stairs are 80cm wide or less, building regs do not allow railings on both sides. At least didn't 20 years ago when I ignored them and made the house safe for my disabled daughters anyway.