A few days ago Steve did a blog about the safety hazard of a deck gate that swung over the stairs. These sorts of safety issues in and around homes are more common than one would think. The requirement for there to be landings on both sides of the door (at the top of stairs that have doors that open toward them) has been around for some time, but interestingly enough is not as all inclusive as one might think. For example the exterior door of a home, that is not the "primary" entrance to the home (like the door to the back yard) if it has two risers or less does not require a landing and the screen door could swing out over the stairs. Seems odd in some cases, but is another example of the "minimum standards" of the codes.
In older homes it is not uncommon to have doors that open over the stairs to the basement. This happened because there often wasn't a place to swing the door into the kitchen where the top of the stairs was often located. Sometimes the hinging of the door was changed to swing over the stairs to allow for better use of the kitchen space or to eliminate "fights" with other doors. Regardless, this installation is not safe; and, tumbles backwards down the stairs are a real possibility while trying to open the door when going up the stairs.
Repairs should be made to prevent falls down the stairs.
Charles Buell
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Charles, this would make for a great way to enter with an arm full of groceries (or anything), and forget about moving day. Steve
Yikes, that makes me nervous just looking at the picture ! ~Evelyn
Charles I remember seeing this configuration of doors and stairs without landings going to basements in New York. It looks pretty scary to me and I think it is a bad floorplan and unsafe. But hard to fix. Here, you open the door and immediately fall down the stairs. Wow.
Dear Charles,
My background is commercial and residential construction and the things I saw built often boggle the mind. I was always amazed at what people consider to be safe or good construction. Engineers live/design by a different standard I guess.
This photo looks like all kinds of trouble. They should reverse the door swing and maybe even post a sign on the door. I would put in a window so you could see if someone was coming up the stairs, so you don't knock them down if someone upstairs opens the door.
Good luck!
Betina
Simple repair ..... just lay a mattress against the basement wall at the bottom of the stairs. This will prevent you from hitting the wall when you fall.
Sean Allen
A very dangerous configuration indeed. But probably not AS DANGEROUS as this configuration: You said...
"In older homes it is not uncommon to have stairs that open over the stairs to the basement."
I think that should have read "In older homes it is not uncommon to have a door that opens over the stairs to the basement" ??
This one doesn't look as dangerous as some things that I see. The new style houses with stairs a mile high because of high ceilings usually don't have any rails to cling to as you go up or down. That should be a code violation supreme!
Your drawings on the previous blog were very nice.
You are right Charles. I do see this in many older properties and I do suggest that they consider changing the orientation of the door... Good information to share with your readers...
Charles,
I don't see a hand rail in the photo. Is in on the other wall that not showing in the photo?
Charlie,
Been so busy I have yet to read this. You must have penned this before the revenuers showed up and put you up for free this weekend. That is a much bigger deal than my whimpy gate.
Steve, these kinds of door swings can be difficult to negotiate with empty hands.
Eveyln, thanks for commenting
Gary, these can be really hard to remedy
Betina, most of the time I don't think they were even trying to be safet----just get the job done.
Sean, now why didn't I think of that:)
Kevin, thanks for the correction----spell check just can't deal with those kinds of mistakes:)
Barbara, if the stairs are missing handrails as youd describe it would be highly likely that it is a code violation.
Michael, in this case changing the swing of the door was an option.
Phillip, what is a handrail for?:) They are often missing as well. In this case there was one on the other side.
Steve, what the heck are you talking about:)