Stairs & Ramps

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• Manually Adding Railings to a Staircase

  Creating a custom stair railing can be added to a staircase using the Railing tool and setting it to follow the slope of the stairs.

• Creating Curved or Spiral Staircases

  Create curved stairs using the stair tools in Chief Architect, or place a spiral staircase from the Library Browser.

• Using the Flare and Curve Stairs Edit Tools

  Any stair section can be flared and/or its treads curved using the Flare/Curve Stairs edit button. Only exposed sides of a stair section can be flared. If one side of a stair section is against a wall or wrapped, only the exposed end can be flared.

• Creating Stairs in Sloping Terrain

  You can create stairs that follow your terrain by drawing stairs in your desired area, while snapping them to landings at each end.

• Creating a Split Level Entry, or Foyer, with a Landing

  A split level entry consists of a landing with a floor height between the first floor and the basement and can be created by controlling floor and ceiling heights.

• Creating a Room Under a Staircase

  Create a storage or utility room under a staircase using interior walls.

• Creating a T-shaped Staircase

  Stair landings are platforms between stair sections and/or ramps, and can be created by using the Landing tool, clicking between two stair sections using the tool, or by converting a closed CAD polyline into a landing. Stairs sections can be connected to the landing to create a t shaped stair.

• Displaying Objects Below Stairs in a Floor Plan View

  Staircases can be made transparent so that shelves, cabinets, appliances, or fixtures placed under the stairs may be seen in floor plan view.

• Drawing Stairs Down From a Deck or Porch

  Use the Click Stairs tool to easily place stairs between levels on the same floor, or between a floor platform and the terrain, with a single click.

• Creating a Landing Between Two Sets of Stairs

  A landing can be created between two separate stair segments within Chief Architect.

• Creating a Stairwell

  An interior staircase must be located in a stairwell, also known as an opening to the floor above. A stairwell is an Open Below room type on the floor above and can be created manually or automatically in most scenarios.

• Creating Mitered or Wrap Around Stairs

  Check Allow Wrap on the Style panel of the Staircase Specification dialog and the selected stairs can be wrapped around the corner of a deck or landing.

• Creating Stairs Between Floor Platforms Located on the Same Floor Level

  Both the Draw Stairs and Straight Stairs tools can be used to create a stair section between floor platforms on the same floor of a plan, or form a deck down to the terrain.

• Creating Winder Stairs

  A staircase with sections defined as Winders in its Specification dialog will expand to fill in any gaps between the side of the stairs and nearby walls.

• Message: Only one stair section can connect to a single landing edge.

  This Information message will display when a stair section is connected to a landing along an edge that is not the same width as the stairs or requires a break point.

• Specifying Glass, Cable, or Decorative Railing Panels

  Cable, glass, and other decorative panels can be applied to railings and stairs using the Staircase Specification and Railing Specification dialogs.

• Building an Accessibility Ramp

  Creating a ramp with handrails and a landing is easy to accomplish using the Ramp tool.

• Modifying the Display of Stairs in Plan View

  The display of stairs in floor plan view can be customized to include a stair break line, newels, balusters, railing, tread overhang, and stringers.

• Creating a Stair Rake Wall

  Stair rake walls can be created by specifying a railing to be a pony wall and having it follow the slope of the stairs.

• Customizing Stair Stringers

  Stair stringers can be customized by opening the Staircase Specification dialog or the Stair Defaults dialog and accessing the Stringers panel.