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Help, trying to decide whether to enclose a staircase

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

So we have a small (700 sq feet), late 1970s, semi-detached house with 4, soon to be 5 people living in it.

The kitchen is at the front of the house and to increase space, the previous owners knocked the wall between the kitchen and the hall.

This works reasonably well except that it means that all the noise from the kitchen travels straight upstairs to the bedrooms (and the reverse... bathroom noises...). The walls upstairs are extremely and the doors flimsy with glass above them but we can't afford to take down all the partitions and rebuild.

So we are considering enclosing the stairs (while leaving the underneath of the stairs open), with a door somewhere at the bottom of the stairs.Obviously if we do that, the coat cupboard on the left will have to go or at least be replaced by something much smaller - it is not a great use of space anyway.

We were also considering creating a small semi-glazed hallway - we really don't like not having a hall - but the space is so small we have more or less abandoned that idea.

I am really not sure how it would look if we enclose the staircase though or if it will just be totally awkward. If anyone had any ideas or comments... would really appreciate it!

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Comments (3)

Nancy Ingram
8 years ago
I would enclose it but with either glass panels or built-ins or a combination. That way you will still get some light in there. You may have enough room at the tall end to do a coat closet and cubbies the rest of the way. And so it doesn't go too modern, you may want to trim out the panels with painted trim. I would also look into soundproofing your walls and bathroom.
Judy Mishkin
8 years ago
i'm thinking that the glass panels would cost more than upgrading the doors upstairs. have a contractor price it out both ways.
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draiocht26
Original Author
8 years ago
thanks both & sorry for not getting back sooner. Appreciate it! unfortunately, while lovely, glass panels are going to be too expensive as is upgrading the doors/walls upstairs (realistically we would have to take down all the upstairs walls and start again to make any difference). But thanks.

Obviously if we do enclose it will use a glazed door at the base (the rules about the size of landing you need don't seem to be too strict here in Ireland - must have 40 cm from the base step completely free) so we are thinking door at the base of the stairs opening towards the front door. My sister in law however suggests using the entire width between the front door and the stairs as storage, fairly similar to now, but with a door opening out into the kitchen. still thinking.

thanks again for your input anyway.

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