Floating Steel Stairs - A Floating Steel Staircase in NZ

Steel is an ideal material for staircases, as it allows for a sleek but very strong staircase structure. Steel staircases are however not a ...

Steel is an ideal material for staircases, as it allows for a sleek but very strong staircase structure. Steel staircases are however not a cheap option for a staircase in NZ. If you get a Steel Staircase designed and completely project managed for you in New Zealand, you can expect to pay the price of a medium car for it, if not more. However if the Steel Stairs are going to be one of the main features and the hub of the interior of your NZ Architecturally Designed home, it maybe well worth it. 

A large project we have been involved with is the design and project management of the installation of this new Steel Staircase. This staircase is housed inside a brand new architecturally designed New Zealand home. This staircase consists of two steel stringers at each side, tied together with steel treads to give it rigidity. The end result is a floating open tred staircase when looking front on.  

One of the main features of this steel staircase is the American White Oak stair treads. These are solid slabs of American White Oak mounted to the steel structure of the stairs. These treads had to be protected during construction of the house, as the staircase was the only route up to the second level. 

This steel staircase also features glass balustrades bolted onto the steel stringer. The glass used is Ultra Clear glass, which has low levels of iron in its formulation. This means that there is only has a very slight green tint to the glass unlike regular glass. As balustrade glass is quite thick,  regular glass does have a noticeably green colour to it, so the Ultra Clear glass reduces this significantly. Ultra Clear glass does cost quite a bit more, but it was worth it in this case as it makes the balustrades even less visible. 

The balustrade glass is fixed to the steel stair stringers with special stainless steel anchors. These balustrade anchors are also used on the surrounding second level balustrades,  so provide consistency of materials. 

There were many things to consider with the design of this staircase and it ended up being a challenging job, especially with the coordination of the different sub trades. But the end result was worth it and it has resulted in a spectacular modern steel staircase. 

This particular Steel Staircase was designed by us, and was specially engineered by a local engineer. It was built by a Wellington engineering firm. If you would like this staircase design replicated on your project, please feel free to get in touch.

Please note that we can't give any free advice or any kind regarding stair design, products and manufacturers used etc.