Staircase Renovation

There's no independent published price for staircase work in Singapore to point you to, so here is what makes the job bigger or smaller. Laying new treads over sound old ones is the smallest job. Stripping old tiles or stone first adds the removal, repairs to what's underneath and more dust. Stone treads weigh much more than timber and each front edge is cut and finished, which adds work. A straight flight is simpler than one that turns on wedge-shaped steps, where each step is cut to its own shape. The railing or banister is priced on its length, whether it's glass, metal or timber and how it fixes into the steps or wall, and glass also on the type of glass and whether it sits in a channel or on separate fixings. Lights set into the steps or wall add an electrician's work. Moving or rebuilding the staircase is bigger again, because structural work brings an engineer's plans, BCA's plan fee where one applies and a permit before work starts, then making good the floors and ceilings on both levels. Get the finish job and any rebuild priced separately so an overlay quote isn't compared with a new staircase. Staircase renovation costs goes through the budget in more detail.

Yes, if the old treads are firm and the stairs under them are sound. The catch is at the two ends of the flight. New treads raise every step by their thickness, so the steps in the middle stay even with each other, but the bottom step gets taller and the top step shorter by that amount, unless the floor at that end is raised too. A step that's a different height from the rest is easy to trip on. The extra layer can also change the nosing, the front edge of each step, and raising a landing floor can stop a door there from clearing it. Get the finished step heights drawn and checked before the timber is ordered. The first and last steps after an overlay explains how that's worked out.

Neither is better for every house, but they feel and wear differently. Marble feels cool and hard underfoot, while timber feels warmer and softer, which you notice with bare feet. Timber dents and scratches more easily, but one damaged tread can be sanded and refinished or replaced on its own. Marble is harder but can chip at the front edge, and a chip needs a stone repair or a new tread. Grip comes more from the finish than the material, so polished marble or glossy varnished timber is slicker with damp feet than a honed or textured surface. Try samples in the finish you'd actually get. Marble is also much heavier, so check the existing stairs can carry it. Staircase materials compared covers timber, stone, glass and steel.

Building works need BCA's approval and a permit unless they're on the list of insignificant building works in the Building Control Regulations. That list includes replacing existing floor and wall finishes, and replacing a railing, balustrade or similar barrier with the same material, design and fixing details, unless it's made of non-laminated glass. Moving or rebuilding a staircase isn't on it, and neither is a railing in a new material or design. Only a Qualified Person who is a registered Professional Engineer in the civil or structural discipline can submit structural plans, and BCA's permit comes before structural work starts. BCA advises private property owners to engage a Qualified Person, a registered architect or professional engineer, to advise on the clearances needed from BCA and other authorities such as URA, and whether your tread work counts as a finish is a question for the Qualified Person. For a landed house built for the owner's own use, BCA's rules on handrails, landings and stair width, tread and riser, and its barrier rules on height, gaps and climbing, don't apply, but structural design has no exemption. When staircase work needs BCA approval goes into more detail.

It's a staircase with open gaps between the treads, instead of the upright boards (the risers) that close them. On a landed house built for the owner's own use, BCA's staircase rules on stair width, tread and riser, and its rule that a barrier must have no gap a person can slip through, don't apply, so nothing in those rules makes the gaps child-safe. If young children or older parents use the stairs, decide whether to close the gaps between the treads or fill in the railing. Safer stairs for children and older parents goes through the options.

It can be done where the structure and the rooms allow, but it's a different job from renovating the finish. Moving the staircase or reshaping it, into a spiral for example, means changing the opening in the floor above, cutting where the new stairs arrive and closing where the old ones did, and changing what holds the stairs up. That's structural work, so the structural plans come from a Qualified Person who is a registered Professional Engineer, and BCA's permit comes before work starts. The rooms on both floors change too, so check where the new stairs land upstairs and what they take from the room below. Spiral or straight stairs compares the space each needs and how easy each is to use.

Only if there's still a safe way up to the rooms you need. Taking out treads, the railing or the whole flight can close the stairs, and stairs with the railing off aren't safe to use. Get the dates the stairs will be closed before work starts, then decide whether everyone can sleep and wash on one floor or needs to stay somewhere else for those days.

We can't give a number of weeks until the work is scoped, so ask for the start date and the days the stairs will be out of use in writing. A finish job closes the stairs while the old treads or railing are off and the new ones go on. A structural change adds the engineer's plans, BCA's approval and the permit before any work on site. BCA's targets for processing a complete structural plan application run from 7 to 20 working days depending on how it's submitted, and 7 working days for the permit, which can be applied for together with the plans. Plans that need more evaluation can take longer. How you get upstairs during the work covers planning around the closure.

Nobody can promise that a new staircase will raise the sale price. Do it because the stairs are worn, unsafe or awkward for the people using them, or because you want them to look better, and count the cost as money spent on living in the house rather than money you'll get back when you sell.