Stairs can be created using a parametric object or from a 2D sketch. In both cases, the resulting object will be based on a stair style definition.
Stair Styles
There are no naming conventions for stair styles. In general the name should simply indicate the overall purpose or stair type and possibly include the primary structure, material or construction of the stair.
Example Stair Style Names:
| Stair Style Description | Example Name |
|---|---|
| Steel stairs with a housed stringer. | Steel - Housed |
| Stair style configured to act as a concrete ramp with stringers configured to act as curbs. | Ramp - Concrete + Curb |
Best Practices for Stair Styles:
- Consider carefully the ramifications, pro and con, of allowing the landing extension settings and stair component settings to vary amongst stairs of the same style. Turning these options off makes them “hard coded” to the style. Turning them on makes them merely defaults to be applied during the creation of a stair, but able to be overridden.
- When a style is assigned to a custom stair created from linework, the stringer offsets specified in the style definition will be calculated from the lines that you select for the stringer locations.
- Landing extensions that are defined in the stair style will be ignored when creating a custom stair from linework.
Stair Winder Styles
Winder styles can be applied to stairs with the “Turn type” set to either “1/4 Turn” or 1/2 Turn.
Stair Winder Styles Naming Conventions:
The stair style name should indicate the Winder type, followed by specifics as to any tread or riser controls:
<Winder type> - <Optional control parameter>...
Example Stair Winder Style Names:
| Stair Winder Style Description | Example Name |
|---|---|
| Manual winder type, “Use Riser Line” toggled on under “Settings”. | Manual - Riser |
| Single Point winder type, “Adjust Winder Turn” checked on under “Tread Settings in Turn Area”, with 2 treads per turn. | Single Point - 2 Tread |
Best Practices for Stair Winder Styles:
- Before defining a new stair winder style, check the existing style content library files. Most of the typical winder conditions have already been defined.
- When using the single point type, it is important to clear “Use Riser Line” if the turn point will be on the edge or corner of the stair. Otherwise, the treads will overlap and the stair will be defective.
Palette-Based Stair Tools
When creating a tool for a stair style you may want to consider the following optional pre-sets:
- Stair shape: although many properties of a stair can be changed after the stair has been placed, the stair shape can only be set at the time of creation. You may want to consider having the stair shape (multi-landing, U-shaped, spiral or straight) be a default setting for your stair tools.
- Turn type: you can specify either landings or turns. This is also a setting that cannot be changed after the stair has been placed.
- Winder style and winder style location: If you specify a turn as the turn type, you can set the winder style to use on the turn. If you specify the winder style, you can also specify a different drawing from which to import the winder style.
- Stair termination: You can pre-determine whether the stair should end with a riser, tread or landing. This setting can be changed after the stair has been placed as well.
The stair tool properties
Railing Styles
Railing style names should be as descriptive as possible, listing the major components of the railing.
Railing Styles Naming Conventions:
<Rail type> - <Rail Shape> + <Additional component> + <Additional component>...
Example Railing Style Names:
| Railing Style Description | Example Name |
|---|---|
| Guardrail, circular with a handrail and rod balusters. | Guardrail - Pipe + Handrail + Rod Balusters |
| Guardrail, circular with a handrail and returns: | Guardrail - Pipe _+ Handrail + Return |