Stairs to Roof Deck
I am considering purchase of a 4th floor 2 bedroom, the top floor of a brownstone. The unit has exclusive roof rights. Current owners have a partial wood deck on the roof. it’s nice, but the access to the roof is via attic stairs in the hallway that pull down with a string. What kind…
I am considering purchase of a 4th floor 2 bedroom, the top floor of a brownstone. The unit has exclusive roof rights. Current owners have a partial wood deck on the roof. it’s nice, but the access to the roof is via attic stairs in the hallway that pull down with a string. What kind of stairs could I put in as an alternative? Spiral stairs? If so, how much construction on the roof would need to be done to accomodate the new entry? Thanks in advance for ideas, troubleshootings, referrals, etc.
Jelly donut wrote: “In short, a stair or ladder to a roof for maintenance has very few requirements,” – do you know what these are per chance? We are buying a two unit building and want to move a wall so the roof maintenance access is in a unit and not a common hallway – can we do this? Thx!
It appears you are living in a multi-unit dwelling. If so, then there needs to be 2 means of egress to the roof. A fire escape on the outside (front or rear) AND a common roof access like a steel ladder inside. That ladder must be accessible to all tenants. It sounds like the pull down stairs you mentioned at are not up to code at present. To have private roof access your roof stairs will have to be from inside your unit. Alternate tread stairs do not meet code they are too steep. The only real option in a multi-unit situation is a spiral stair (straight stairs take up a very large footprint in your unit). Installation of a spiral stair means essentially hanging them from the roof joists which requires reinforcing the joists which means ripping open the entire width of the ceiling on the joists that are in question. Plan on living elsewhere for the duration of that work. Seems like you might want to consider having the pull down stairs replaced with a simple steel ladder with nice treads and handrails. That’ll run a grand. All the other stair options will run at $50k-$75k depending on how big a bulkhead you build on the roof.
2 things to consider
1-you need to provide a 42″ tall railing to the roof you are augmenting access to. A roof deck can be a huge liability (with folks falling and all) protect yourself
2-at the moment that you are calling your roof usable space I would imagine that you need to provide a stair that is compliant with chapter 6 of the NYC building code (new code probably has similar requirements under means of egress). basically that means steps no taller than 8″ and no shallower than10″ (I think) with a 1″ nosing, and the new code will prohibit open tread stairs for egress.
In short, a stair or ladder to a roof for maintenance has very few requirements, when you are creating an occupancy situation on the roof (one where people may need to escape in the event of a fire) the requirement become very stringent.
Does anyone have a link to the building code laws regarding the pull down stairs?
I think those arkestairs are no longer allowed due to new building codes.
As a coop/condo you’ll have to follow stringent city requirements. Pretty sure common (egress) stairs cannot be spiral. Is this interior to your apartment or common?
If you can install it, an alternate-tread stair looks cool and takes less space, it’s a cross between a ladder and a regular one.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/alternating-tread-stairs.php
But seeing how gingerly many of our guests step down our deck spiral, maybe it’s not a good idea.
These are also cool: http://www.arkestairs.com/kompact.php