This simple interface makes Pinterest a great tool for getting ideas for home improvement projects such as stairs, balconies, and railings. This can include everything from the style or type of materials, right down to specific features like the number of treads or how many spindles per tread.  

As a bespoke manufacturer, we can then talk through the images you’ve chosen, what you like about them, and use this to develop and refine your piece to achieve a beautiful end result. 

How To Create an Inspiration Board 

Begin by logging onto Pinterest and creating a board. If you haven’t used it before, they offer a useful beginner’s guide to help you get your account set-up. Pinterest is easy to use and allows you to create as many boards as you need. Consider titling it ‘Staircase Inspiration’ to organise all your ideas into one folder. 

Once this is set-up, you can start using Pinterest’s search tool to find some ideas and pin them to the board.  

When envisioning your new staircase, balcony or railing, there are two things worth bearing in mind: style and practicality. Take a moment to consider what you want. Are you interested in that snug farmhouse feel? Or are you leaning more towards the clean lines of a modern aesthetic? Whilst Pinterest can help you find the right style for you, it’s helpful to already have an idea of what you want and be able to tailor your searches, accordingly, using terms such as ‘traditional spiral staircases’. 

Practicality is also key. Consider the space you’re working with, especially for permanent fixtures like staircases. If your space is limited, consider a spiral that can fit neatly into smaller nooks of your home. If you have a long narrow space, then a straight staircase may fit more suitably into your home. 

Beyond identifying general styles, this is also an opportunity to find specific details you like. For example, what type of timber do you prefer a rich oak, dark walnut or even a simple birch ply. Are there specific details you like such as the design of spindles, use of concealed fixings, colour choice or how the staircase links into the landing balustrade.  

Add notes when pining these images to remind you specifically what you like about them. You can also upload your own pictures if you see something you like out and about, or if you want to quickly capture an image from a magazine.  

You can also can follow us on Pinterest too! Our Pinterest boards have been created to cover a wide range of different designs, both from ourselves and others, showing what is possible for your piece.   

Creating your design 

Once you’re happy with your board, get in touch with us. You can either submit a quote on one of our product pages, call us on … or email us at. 

Our friendly team are more than happy to discuss your project requirements and can explore your board with you, either in-person at our offices, or online via Zoom or Teams.  

As a bespoke manufacturer, we pride ourselves on our ability to take on a challenge and deliver exactly what you want. As we operate our own foundry, in addition to a huge range of existing designs, we can also create completely unique designs just for you. These could be developed from your own drawings or other designs you have seen. We can also create pieces which match existing designs if you have seen – for example, if you have seen a spindle or railing you especially like. 

Our workshop includes a full powder coating facility, and we are more than happy to colour match if you have a particular option you like. We also work with a wide range of specialist partners to achieve specific designs, these include Handrail Creations, who can produce beautiful carved handrails, experienced cabinetmakers and finishing companies who can provide marine grade painted finishes for seaside locations.   

We can also advise where designs you’ve pinned may not meet UK Building Regulations or planning requirements, and how they could be adapted to do so.  

We use Computer Aided Design (CAD) for all our staircases and balconies, so you will be able to see a virtual version of your design before manufacturing begins – ensuring it perfectly matches your vision. 

Get In Touch 

So, if you’re wanting to unlock the endless opportunities that come with a platform like Pinterest, get online and set up your account, and when you’re done, share what you like with us by submitting a quote or contacting us via email. 

The post Pin-tastic! How to use Pinterest for Interior Design.  appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Example (not manufactured by BS&C).

Carrying out any building work over the past couple of years has been a challenge, with rising costs and material and labour shortages meaning your initial budget may not stretch as far as expected. This can lead to difficult choices when it comes to the internal fit-out, including your choice of staircase.

Here at British Spirals & Castings, we pride ourselves in delivering the best staircase for your budget and over the past few months we have been helping customers facing budget challenges to achieve a beautiful, modern finish at a surprisingly low cost.

The secret with these staircases is the careful use of materials and design. As with our standard solid timber staircases, the treads are cut from a Grade-A solid timber of your choice, however, the stringer (the side support) and  riser (the vertical section of wood between treads) are produced from a high grade poplar plywood. This is a high-quality material (in fact some of our Scandinavian designs use birch or poplar plywood for the standard treads), however, as a sheet good it is available at a far lower price point than a comparable section of solid timber such as Ash or Oak. In addition to lower the material costs, this also means our joiners do not need to spend time dimensioning the timber to the right thickness for your project, saving on labour.

The plywood sections of the staircase can then be painted in your chosen colour. This helps to make the solid treads really stand out, whilst providing a more stripped back, modern aesthetic for the staircase. We can either supply the poplar plywood sections pre-painted or just prime them so you can add the finishing touches yourself.

We can combine these styles with a range of balustrade designs and materials including simple cast aluminium with circular or square profiled spindles, solid timber or custom steel profile. Again, these can either come pre-finished or primed and ready to be painted or treated.

As with all our staircases, your design will be tailored to your home, ensuring it makes the best use of your space, provides plenty of room for users and is comfortable to walk up and down.

You can see some examples of this style of staircase in the images throughout this blog and below. If you would like to discuss one of these designs, or a different style you have come across whilst browsing Pinterest or a home design magazine then get in touch via email or come visit our showroom. Our in-house designers are more than happy to produce a staircase which perfectly captures your vision.

The post A stylish timber staircase on a budget appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Here are some tips to save costs and get a staircase that looks great and fits perfectly.

Choose a design from our standard ranges

Whilst we can produce completely one-off designs, like this floating helical staircase, we also offer a number of popular standard ranges of spiral and straight staircases.

For our cast spiral staircases, these ranges are based on the pattern of the treads. They include:

• Traditional Victorian
• Modern Art Deco
• LCC
• Diamond

We have pre-existing pattern moulds for these treads in a number of widths. By selecting one of these existing sizes, we’re able to produce the staircases both more quickly and affordably as there is no time needed to create a new mould. Get in touch and we can help you to find the most suitable size for your project.

Explore our Scandinavian Range

Our Scandinavian range of spiral staircases feature combine cast aluminium structure with timber treads. Whilst we can provide these with a range of hardwood treads, they can also be designed with marine grade birch ply-wood treads. This is our most affordable design of spirals staircase and also perfectly complements the practical, Scandinavian aesthetic which remains highly desirable for many homeowners and businesses.

Go for a more minimalist design

We offer a wide range of spindles and decorative railing panels which can be used for the baluster. However, all our standard square and circular profile spindles are produced with the same care and attention to detail as the more ornate alternatives and can provide a modern aesthetic whilst saving on costs.

The same is true for the handrail, where we can offer a simple all-metal design with visible top fixings. This can create an industrial aesthetic whilst also being a more affordable alternative to other options we offer, such as wooden handrails.

Think carefully about the staircase dimensions

In addition to picking one of our standard widths of treads, it’s also worth considering what size of staircase you actually need. Here in the UK, there are clear regulations which set out the minimum width for different designs of staircase depending on where they are being fitted. For example, a staircase going up to a single bedroom, such as a loft conversion, can be much narrower than a main staircase.

Learn more about the minimum width of staircases

By opting for slightly narrower treads, less raw materials are needed which will have a knock-on effect on the cost of the finished staircase.

Think about materials and finishes

Often, when customers come to us for a metal staircase, they think the only available options are cast iron or wrought iron. In fact, we produce almost all of our metal staircases from cast aluminium at our Staffordshire foundry. Cast aluminium is much lighter than these alternatives which can mean that a less extensive footing is needed for exterior staircases or avoids the need for additional internal supports when fitting a staircase for a loft conversion.

Additionally, whilst we offer a professional powder coating service for a smooth finish on our cast aluminium pieces, we can also supply them unfinished – allowing you to apply a hand painted finish.

Watch our powder coating video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEy9DNBsjEI

Measure and install the staircase yourself

Finally, we’ve worked with homeowners both in the UK and abroad who’ve saved costs on their project by carrying out the measuring and installation themselves. We can provide clear guidance on how to measure the space along with fixing instructions for when the staircase arrives. Keep in mind that some of the components will be heavy or cumbersome so you’ll need a few friends to help with the installation.

 Get in touch

If you are interested in having a bespoke spiral staircase, balcony or railing designed and installed in your own property, visit our gallery to view some of the options and submit a quote or get in touch via phone or email.

The post How to save money when buying a staircase appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

One of the most fundamental tasks when designing a staircase is ensuring it can easily handle the loads it may experience throughout its lifespan. For a home staircase, this not only includes the weight of one or two people walking on individual treads, but also loads from furniture being carried up and down or from people leaning on the balustrade.

To ensure they’re up to the task, all staircases here in the UK must meet strict loading requirements, both vertically down on the treads, stringers and landings, and horizontally on the handrails and balustrades.

When you’re ordering a staircase from your home, it is important to check that it meets all of these regulatory requirements and is safe. This is especially important if you’re ordering a kit staircase from overseas as the loading requirements may vary from country to country. If you’re unsure, you should ask the manufacturer to provide loading calculations to prove that the staircase is fully compliant.

Below, we outline the specific loading requirements for all home staircases installed in the UK.All British Spirals & Castings staircases are designed to meet these requirements and we can provide loading calculations if you require.

What are the loading requirements for treads, stringers and landings

The staircase loading requirements in the UK are contained within BS EN 1991-1-1: 2002 with additional guidance provided within a supporting UK National Annex.

For a standard home staircase, the stringers, treads and landings need to pass two types of loading assessment. A Uniformly Distributed Load, which is applied equally across the entire surface, and a Concentrated Load which is a single weight applied at the most vulnerable point of the structural element. For example, on spiral staircase treads, this is applied on the end of the tread furthest from the central pillar.

The Uniformly Distributed Load is measured in Kilo Newtons per metre squared whilst the Concentrated Load is measured in Kilo Newtons. For reference 1 Kilo Newton is equivalent to around 100 Kilograms or roughly 220 pounds.

Treads, stringers and landings should be able to support a Uniformly Distributed Load of at least 1.5 kN/m² and a Concentrated Load of at least 2.0 kN.

What are the loading requirements for staircase handrails and balustrades?

Staircase balustrades for a home staircase need to be designed to meet:

• a horizontal Uniformly Distributed Load of at least 0.36 kN/m on the handrail
• a horizontal Uniformly Distributed Load of at least 0.50 kN/m; and
• Additionally, a horizontal Concentrated Load of at least 0.35 kN (all individual spindles must be able to resist at least half this load).

Additionally, when the weight is applied to the handrail, it should not deflect by more than 25 mm or must be capable of withstanding 2.5 times the concentrated load without failing.

Bespoke Staircases

Our staircases are designed to meet all of these requirements here in the UK and we can provide clear structural calculations to support this if required by Building Control. For overseas orders, we can work with you to meet the requirements for your region.

If you are interested in having a bespoke staircase or balcony installed in your own property, visit our gallery to view some of the options and submit a quote or get in touch via phone or email.

The post What loads should home staircases be designed for? appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Over the 30 years we’ve been manufacturing staircases, we’ve seen new styles come to the fore, particularly more Nordic-style floating staircases with steel stringers and thick timber treads. The simple combination of materials on these staircases really brings out the character and richness of the wooden elements. We recently manufactured two flights of these staircases for homeowners James and Ruth Neve, who live just a short walk from our workshop in Chapel-en-le-Frith.

As owner – James – explained, the existing staircase in their home seemed to not only fail to meet Building Regulations but was also dangerous:

“The flow of the existing stairs was uneven and we had to warn guests to be careful in case they caught their heels and stumbled. On one occasion, this caused Ruth to slip and break her ankle. On closer inspection by people who came to look at the staircase, questions were raised about whether the staircase was compliant.”

By chance, we’d had contact with the couple previously for completely unconnected reasons and they’d learnt about our business. When it came to looking to replace their stairs, they felt that they wanted to get a quote from us, particularly with us being very local.

“We had originally thought that we might want a replacement staircase with glass panels and wood.” James explained. “We recall that it was either Rick or Ben Harding who showed us photos of the staircases they’d designed and manufactured in the past and this drew us to the floating steel staircase design. It helped greatly to be taken to a similar installation and see it in location.”

Based on these initial meetings and discussions, we produced detailed CAD designs for the staircase which runs across two flights and includes a simple metal balustrade with plain round spindles which runs continuously up one side of the of the staircase and along the connecting landing. Separate wall mounted handrails were also added for the opposite side. The tread themselves are thick Grade-A ash which are fixed to specially profiled steel stringers.

“The 3D CAD drawings were particularly helpful during the design phase” James said. “They allowed us to clearly observes things, ask questions and make comments without having to understand complex plans. There was a good understanding of our requirements and a great service provided in terms of drawings and subsequent changes to those drawings. There was also an attention to detail which meant that most issues were anticipated and addressed before the installation of the stairs.”

Once the designs were agreed, our local partners got to work manufacturing the steel stringers whilst our foundry and workshop teams manufactured the aluminium balusters and mild steel handrail. Once the metalwork was completed, we powder coated all of the sections with a smooth black finish. The Ash treads were manufactured from 10.5 cm thick solid ash and supplied unfinished to allow the owners to adapt the look to their tastes.

The installation itself was carried out by Mark Ashton

“Mark Ashton and his team, who were recommended to us by British Spirals & Castings, could not have been better.” James explained. “There were some issues encountered along the way (almost inevitably) but Mark was diligent and committed in the way he sought to resolve them. We are very pleased with the quality of the work and whilst there is always a level of inconvenience and disruption in living on a building site they made it as easy as possible and were a pleasure to have working for us.”

“Overall we are delighted with the whole project. There is a joy and security in using the stairs and those who have seen them have thought they are fantastic. We would gladly recommend British Spirals & Castings and Mark Ashton to anyone who would consider having such work done – in fact we have already done so! We were delighted with the commitment shown to our project and wonder whether we would have received such excellent service from companies with wider profiles that offer equivalent services.”

If you need a staircase, railing, balustrade or balcony for your own project then get in touch. You can view a wide range of our designs in our gallery and submit a quote directly from there.

The post Modern Steel and Ash Tread Floating Staircase appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Home improvement and renovation projects can be an exciting process, allowing you to pick and choose every element to create a space that is truly yours. However, when you are working to a budget, it is important to prioritise where to spend your money and where you can look for savings with cheaper, more standardised options.

For example, there are now several kinds of ‘kit staircases’ available for order online. Whilst these often seem relatively cheap, they can have a number of drawbacks and hidden costs which are important to be aware of.

Potential problems with cheap kit staircases

Non-compliant designs

Kit staircases are usually much cheaper as they are mass produced to standard sizes outside of the UK and often supplied to a number of different countries. Building requirements can vary quite significantly from region to region, which potentially means that a kit staircase will not be designed to be compliant with the Building Regulations in your region. If issues are found, you may be required to extensively alter or replace the staircase, costing you more money.

Quality control issues

Another potential pitfall with this mass-produced approach is that the quality of materials and finish can be lacking. We have been asked to replace kit staircases where the owner described the handrail as being “like pipework”. Even if the construction is sound, the finish might not live up to expectations and, in cases where the staircase is painted or powder coated, it may be difficult to touch up or recoat over time.

Unclear instructions and poor support

We’ve all run into issues with poor instructions when trying to put up flat pack furniture. The same is true for many kit staircases. In addition to adding a lot of time and frustration to a project, this can also introduce safety issues if key pieces are improperly fixed. This issue is made worse where suppliers have only limited technical support and cannot provide effective advice and guidance if you run into issues.

Difficult to adjust

Our homes and buildings come in all shapes and sizes, and this makes it hard to match up a standard staircase with a given space. In addition to the challenge getting the stair heights to match the floor level precisely, uneven walls and floors can also present significant issues. In the case of spiral staircases, you’ll also be limited on the diameter of staircase that is available – this means it can end up either narrower than you’d like, or eat into the floor space in your room.

Hidden costs

All of these factors above mean that you can actually end up spending a lot of additional time and/or money during the project trying to get the cheap spiral staircase to fit within a space. One of our customers recently had this precise issue. Having ordered a recommended kit staircase, they found it was poor quality and didn’t fit properly within the space. As a result, they ended up starting from scratch and ordering a bespoke staircase from us that properly matched their vision and space. This meant that the whole project was delayed for several weeks and obviously incurred more costs.

Benefits of a bespoke staircase

Here at British Spirals & Castings, we believe bespoke is best. In fact, the whole reason we got started was that our owner, Richard Harding, was unable to find a suitable spiral staircase for his home and so decided to make his own! Our bespoke staircases can offer a number of benefits.

Work to meet your budget

Bespoke staircases will always be somewhat more expensive than kit alternatives. However, our priority is always to ensure you get the best value from your investment. Where budgets are tight, we can make recommendations on how to keep costs down through design choices. For example, our Scandinavian staircases can be supplied with plywood treads which have a modern aesthetic but come at a lower cost than hardwoods.

Designed for you and your home

With a bespoke staircase, you get exactly what you are looking for. All aspects of the design will be tailored to your tastes and needs from the width of treads to the design, materials and finishes. We offer a wide range of different designs of straight, spiral and kited staircases along with balconies and railings and can also create entirely bespoke designs to your own patterns or to match ones that you like. We also use the latest computer design approaches to develop your design, meaning you can perfectly visualise how it will look before we start work on your staircase.

End to end quality control

All our pieces are manufactured right here in Britain. Our cast aluminium staircases and balconies are cast at our specialist Staffordshire foundry using traditional methods and high-quality materials. Each piece is then finished and quality assessed by our workshop team in Derbyshire, ensuring it meets exacting standards. This means you can have complete confidence that the fit and finish will be of the highest standards.

Light construction

All our cast staircases and balconies are manufactured from aluminium at our foundry. This provides the look and feel of cast iron but is far lighter. In addition to making it a bit easier to manoeuvre into place, this can also substantially reduce the structural loading requirements when fitted inside a building (particularly for loft conversions), or the size and extent of foundations when fitted outside. This can help to reduce the cost of installations.

A family business prioritising your needs

We are truly a family business and bring that ethos to all aspects of our work. Richard and his son Ben are both directors and many of our workshop team have been with the company for many years having joined originally as apprentices. For this reason, we take real pride in ensuring that all our pieces are of the highest quality and are backed up with excellent services at every stage from the initial design conversations, right through to delivery and long-term maintenance. Whatever you need, we’re here to help. This ensures you can be confident that pieces will arrive on time and that some one will be on hand if you or your workers need help or advice during installation – ensuring the best possible final results.

If you need a staircase, railing, balustrade or balcony for your own project then get in touch at sales@britishsc.co.uk or 01663 750716. You can view a wide range of our designs in our gallery and submit a quote directly from there.

The post Why it’s worth getting a bespoke staircase appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

The available space for the new staircase presented a number of challenges. The foot of the stairs needed to sit on a small section of landing right next to a doorway to the main living room. This meant the first part of the staircase needed to be a spiral design and rise fairly rapidly to provide plenty of headroom beneath. At the same time, to comply with the Building Regulations, we needed to limit the radius of the spiral staircase element to 1370 mm (the minimum practical size for a compliant staircase). Additionally, to ensure there was sufficient headroom above all the treads whilst also aligning the head of the staircase with the entrance to the converted loft. To achieve this, we added a 75-degree rest plate followed by 3 straight treads.

The complexity of the project meant bespoke CAD designs, such as the one shown above, were essential. Homeowner, Tim Yates, explained: ‘There was no option other than a bespoke spiral staircase. Even then it took Ben Harding and myself several months iteratively refining the design and tightening the design accuracy with each step’. In order to help visualise, and speed up the planning approval, the team created a number of detailed CAD designs, technical drawings which modelled to perfection how the staircase would look once installed. ‘Without a 3D CAD model with mm perfect measures, I would have not committed to the spend’, Tim added.

The final staircase includes a total of twelve rises from the extended top landing plate to the bottom, 8 of which formed a spiral. For each tread, a plain baluster alternates between beautiful floral infills which compliments the original features that the homeowner wanted to enhance. The decorative nature of the floral detailing on the infill panels contrasts the minimalist aesthetic of the plain balusters. We powder coated the handrail, spindles and infill panels in a cool blue which is warmed by the solid oak treads.

DIY SOS

As well as being a project that relied heavily on the 3D CAD service provided by BS&C, this was also a DIY venture for Tim. The stair support was crafted from steel plate, and the entire unit weighed around 220kg. Installing the stairs under the loft conversion was no mean feat in such a unique build, however Tim labelled the process as ‘far more straightforward than I anticipated’ thanks to all of the drawings and photos we provided. The upper straight element proved the biggest challenge, as Tim explained, ‘I needed to get it in place at height early to sort out the alignment. I did the entire build myself – with two people, it would have been much easier’.

The ornamental appeal of the spiral staircase helps transform the loft from an unused area of the house to a new space for the homeowner and guests to enjoy. Reflecting on the finished project, Tim said, ‘After a very long journey to find a suitable design solution, we are absolutely delighted with the final outcome – the stairs have 100% met all our expectations and look absolutely fantastic. A view shared by all our family and friends’.

If you are interested in having a bespoke spiral staircase installed in your own property, visit our gallery to view some of the options and submit a quote or get in touch via phone or email.

The post A bespoke spiral and straight staircase for a loft conversion appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Under current guidelines in England, Scotland and Wales, the top and bottom of the stairs are effectively treated as a landing. This means there must be clear, unobstructed space at either end of the flight so you can get up and down the staircase easily.  The particular requirements will depend on your building type and the spaces served by the staircase.

For all buildings:

• In all cases, stairs must have landings which are at least as big – in length and width – as the width of the flight. This will need to comply with the minimum widths set for the particular staircase type. For example, if the stair width is 1000 mm, then the landing must be at least 1000 mm by 1000 mm in area. The diagram below shows how this works.

• The landing should also be kept clear of permanent In England and Wales, doors to cupboards or ducts may open over the landing in England, provided they are kept shut/locked in normal use and still provide a minimum clear space which is at least 400 mm deep (as shown below). In Scotland, this is only allowed on private staircases (those within homes).

• Landings should be level. They can only have a gradient if the surface is firm and the maximum gradient along the direction of travel is 1:60. This means that for every 1 unit of rise or fall, there should be 60 units of landing. This is more likely to occur in external situations.

Dwellings:

In England, Scotland and Wales, it is possible for a door at the top or bottom of the staircase to swing across the landing providing a minimum clear depth of at least 400 mm is maintained (as shown below)

Non-dwellings:

In non-domestic situations, there needs to be a bigger space on the top and bottom landings than in domestic dwellings. The reason for this is simple, these flights. Will serve more people than one in the home and there may be people moving in both directions on the staircase at a given time.

• There must be an unobstructed clear depth of at least 1200 mm on each landing.
• In England and Wales, doors may only swing across landings when they are shut/locked under normal use. In Scotland, doors must not swing across this space.

If you live outside England, Scotland or Wales, you will need to check your local Building Regulations to confirm the exact requirements.

Once you are measured up, take a look at our gallery and get in touch or send a quote request. Our friendly team will help to design a made to measure staircase for your space.

The post How wide should a landing be? appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Before designing a bespoke piece for a client, whether it be a staircase, balcony, balustrade or railing, we always sit down with them (either in-person, on the phone or via email) to try and get a clear idea of their vision. Customers are often surprised by the amount of choice and design decisions they need to make. For a typical spiral staircase alone, common questions can include:

• Would you prefer wooden or cast aluminium treads?
• If wooden then what type of wood (we offer a wide range of grade-A timbers)?
• If cast aluminium then which pattern (options include Victorian, LCC, Modern Art Deco, Diamond or a completely bespoke pattern)?
• What material would you like the handrails to be made from (we can match any handrail design with our treads)?
• Would you prefer the riser bar to be metal or timber?
• How many spindles and/or railing panels would you like per each tread?
• What design of spindle and/or railing panel would you like?
• Would you prefer a wooden or metal handrail?
• Do you need an inner handrail?
• What colour would you like the metalwork to be powder coated?

This is before we even get to more practical questions about the diameter of the staircase, depth of treads and height of handrails.

Understandably, all these choices can be a little overwhelming. To make things easier, it is a good idea to gather together examples of designs you like in one place. This might include images from our website, ones found on social media or sites such as Real Homes or Houzz or even pictures of staircases, railings or balconies you’ve seen when out and about.

Whilst it is possible to simply collate these all in a folder on your computer, we’ve found that the approach which works best is to create a Pinboard on Pinterest. If you’ve not used it before, Pinterest is basically a digital version of a noticeboard, allowing you to “pin” images together and add notes to them. You can either search for images on Pinterest, link to other images by pasting in their URL or even upload pictures from your phone, tablet or computer.

Pinterest offers a useful beginners guide to help anyone who is new to the platform to help you get set-up.

What to include in your inspiration board

To give you an idea of what to include, we’ve created an example inspiration board. In this case, the customers are looking for a spiral staircase for their new home.

As you can see, when you open each image in the pinboard there are useful notes pointing out what we like about each image, whether it be details like the thickness of treads and design of spindles or simply the design of the entire staircase.

To add some context, we’ve also included some interior images to help communicate the overall feel of the property. These can be really helpful in narrowing down the design options.

You don’t have to pin hundreds of images but if you can gather around 7 or 8 it should provide a useful starting point, meaning we can get on designing your staircase more quickly!

Once the board is ready, simply click the three dots next to the board name, select “Share” and then click on the “copy link” button as shown below. Then simply paste this link into an email and send it over.

Visit our Pinterest board and start gathering your ideas today!

The post Creating an inspiration board for your project appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.

Barn conversions offer a rare blend of a characterful and storied structure with an almost blank internal canvas for homeowners to explore and develop. The high ceilings within these buildings makes them particularly suitable for adding extra levels. We’ve crafted staircases for a number of these projects over the years to complement the homeowners preferred style, ranging from country cottage to industrial chic. Recently we worked on a beautiful stone barn just a short hop from our workshop here in the Peak District, providing a modern steel and ash staircase and balustrade as part of the building’s conversion into a holiday let – Cracken Edge Barn.

A Fresh Start

Having lived in bustling London for 8 years, Sarah and Chris were looking for a change of scenery. They found a farmhouse in the Peak District in a great location to explore the National Park whilst still providing an easy commute to Manchester and Sheffield. After a few months, they were able to find new jobs and moved up. As well as being an ideal location the farm came with some added bonuses as Sarah explained:

“The farmhouse already had planning permission to turn a derelict barn into a holiday let and although we’d never done anything like it before, with such amazing views of the National Park it felt like a shame to not share it with more people. We were also really lucky to have support from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development which helped fund part of our project.”

As with work on any older structure, the project came with some challenges – not least when a gable wall of the barn was blown down early on in the project meaning it had to be rebuilt. With the couple promising to host family Christmas at the barn – there was also a race against time to get extra bedroom space ready in the barn.

Working with their architect, they created a design with a spacious ground floor living area, en suite bedroom and kitchen with another en suite bedroom on the upper floor.

Creating the Staircase

Whilst Sarah and Chris already knew they wanted a steel staircase to connect the spaces, designing this proved more challenging:

“After a few attempts to draw the designs ourselves, we realised how complex staircases can be with so many building regulations to consider” Sarah explained. “We decided it was best left to the experts, so I did a quick Google search for local staircase companies, and British Spirals and Castings came up with lots of really positive reviews. After calling them and speaking to Richard it turned out that they had started the business just down the road from us!

It was all incredibly easy, after a couple of phone calls Richard came out to visit the site, discuss a design and measure up. As they are local I popped into their showroom to see examples of the type of thing they could build and I shared a few drawings and examples of what we had in mind from Pinterest and Instagram. I love the simplicity of the ash wood and the steel together and as Cracken Edge Barn is located half way up a hill towards a dis-used stone quarry, the industrial design compliments the nature of the area too.  Within a week or so the team had designed the staircase and shared some 3D drawings which really helped us visualise what it would look like.”

Using all of the materials Sarah and Chris provided, we came up with a simple steel stringer design with supports running across to support the treads and fixings. To match their vision, the ash treads are thicker than we would typically supply and provide a nice contrast to the slim metalwork. The baluster, which runs up the staircase and along the mezzanine platform, features simple circular profile spindles and a stripped back metal handrail. All of the metalwork was powder coated with a black finish before being delivered to the barn a few days before Christmas.

“The builders found it easy to install, the steel was delivered in one piece which meant that whilst it was very heavy, it was fairly simple to fix into place. They then bolted the ash treads into place ready for us to treat with the Osmo oil and it took less than a day to install and meant our family could use a proper staircase rather than a ladder over Christmas! I gave the staircase a quick clean with a slightly damp cloth and then applied a very thin coat. I left it to dry 24 hours and then applied a second thin coat the next day. It dried to be completely clear so you can hardly tell they have been varnished which is exactly the natural finish we wanted.  

I would definitely recommend British Spirals & Castings to others, they made the whole process of getting the staircase designed, built and delivered so much easier and stress free and they were good value considering the time it takes to design and build and the expertise involved. 

When you’re in the midst of a self-build or conversion there are already so many decisions to make and things to do and, on top of two busy full time jobs, it was great to be able to trust British Spirals with the staircase and have one less thing to think about!”

If you are interested in a bespoke staircase, balustrade, balcony or other metalwork, take a look at our gallery then submit a quote request or get in touch.

The post An Ash and Steel Staircase for a Barn Conversion appeared first on British Spirals & Castings.