Wood/steel staircase or a concrete staircase covered with wood?

Hello home builders,

At the moment, the topic for us is the staircase. The options were a wood/steel staircase or a concrete staircase covered with wood. A closed stairwell with a concrete staircase is preferred.

Now some questions about this:

[*]Does it make sense to have a precast concrete staircase delivered and do the installation of the treads yourself and get the wood from the carpenter or somewhere online? We wanted to paint the risers white. Does anyone have experience with this or would you advise against this muscular mortgage? (Desired staircase is in this direction: Link removed by moderation; construction expert

[*]On the (holy) internet I have read that a concrete staircase clad with wood is not necessarily cheaper than an open stringer staircase. Has anyone had experience with this or had cost estimates in front of them?

[*]Many companies always ask if you want the basement stairs differently or the same. How did you decide? With a concrete staircase, it is worth doing it all the way down to the basement, right?

[*]Our brother-in-law also has a staircase in the living area, so not in the hallway. But he said it does draft quite a bit. I would prefer not to relocate the staircase to the hallway. Does it make sense to install a door at the end of the basement stairs? To stop the cool basement air?

We are talking about a semi-detached house, 2.5 stories (plus basement), 8*11 m, U-shaped staircase. Essentially the classic layout of a semi-detached house/semi.

Looking forward to your input!

Best regards
the Winterchild

We wanted to make the risers white.

We were afraid that dirt and other marks would always be visible there, so we decided on risers made of wood (like the treads).

Muscle mortgage

It’s like always: you save on labor costs but have the work and the planning and coordination effort in return. In my opinion, you can’t answer that in general.

cheaper

As far as I know, the wood/steel staircase is cheaper than a concrete staircase. An open staircase (freely supported) is something different again, right?

At that time (1-2 years ago) we had something similar in mind. There was a stairwell measuring 160 x 160 cm, which is already tiny, and a spiral staircase that was absolutely ultrahideous and difficult to use. The quotes we obtained for a wooden staircase, fully closed (must be, I don’t want dirt constantly falling down and my animals shouldn’t fall through the open steps either) were about 5000-6000 euros for 12 steps and a total height including the ceiling of 240 cm. That was simply way too much for us! You can buy straight stairs at the hardware store for 300 euros, I absolutely couldn’t justify paying 20 times that amount just because the staircase had to be half-turned. A bit more expensive okay, but this... In the end, the spiral staircase was removed by a craftsman (150 euros), then we had a ladder standing for a year, where I always had to go up hands-free with a hot pot... (makeshift kitchen downstairs, sofa where we eat, upstairs). It’s amazing what you can get used to. Then I ordered a staircase from a carpenter, but from Ebay – I took the measurements myself. The staircase was untreated, therefore cheap, beechwood, with risers, half-turned and makes full use of the space, unlike the spiral staircase. The width was only 78 cm, but it didn’t need to be a necessary staircase with a minimum width of 80 cm anyway, ours was legally a non-essential staircase from the ground floor to the upper floor. Cost: 1700 euros. I then stained (dark gray) and lacquered the staircase myself, which was really quite bearable work despite all the sanding. The result also turned out very nice. Installation was done by an acquaintance who is a carpenter, and he was paid 300. So all in all it was about 2300 euros, a fraction of what the full-service providers wanted! A photo for illustration (old/new) by the way the staircase will still be clad on the side with gypsum fiberboard, so later on you won’t see the stringers anymore.

We were afraid that dirt and other traces would always be visible there, so we decided on risers made of wood (like the tread).

My husband had the same thought. I just thought that you never actually get completely to the riser since you tend to walk on your "tiptoes" on stairs... at least I do =). But the idea is still open.

. Thank you very much for the detailed description. Everything sounds very exciting. It also looks really great and the savings are really high. I will continue to consider the idea of covering the stairs myself.

[*]Our brother-in-law also has a staircase that is in the living space. So not in the hallway. But he said that it still drafts quite a bit. However, I would be reluctant to move the staircase into the hallway. Does it make sense to install a door at the bottom of the cellar stairs? To stop the cool Kellerluft?

We have a concrete landing staircase from the cellar up to the first floor. It is in the hallway, but the hallway is basically living space as well.

The cellar is noticeably colder (no idea why people always demonize it, I love my cool cellar), but no cold air comes up – why should it? Cold air stays down...

You go down and just under the landing the air changes.

That about covers that point.