I'm thinking of building a staircase from the living room downstairs to the upstairs bedrooms?

Question

this would be more a more convenient place than where the current one is now. I know the height between the floor and ceiling is 8 feet but I do not know how much is between the ceiling downstairs and the floor upstairs. Is there a standard way I can calculate the amount of room I will need to build the staircase?

Answer 1

You can measure the height of your existing stairs if the floors are more or less even, or drill a small hole in the bedroom floor (in the closet for example), and place a thin wire reaching the floor of the living room below. Mark it and remove it. You can measure the length of this wire and you will know the height of the future stairs.
There are standards set for a minimum width of the stairs and the maximum height of a riser. Practically, 36" is not enough; allow 42'' or more for width of the stairs. The standard riser height is to high for many people. The lower each riser is, the more ricers you need, so the cost grows; however, the stairs will be easier to climb for the young children and elderly. Good luck!

Answer 2

Measure the height of your current staircase From the 1st floor the the 2nd floor (ie Bottom To top) and then decide how wide you want the steps.

Answer 3

When your ready to calculate, try this, it really helped me.
www.blocklayer.com/stairs/stairseng.aspx