Adding stairs: anatomy, shapes, and setup

Step by step

1. 1

   Pick Stairs and a shape, then tap the foot and the top

   First make sure you're on the floor the stairs start from — the floor name at the top of the left panel (top row on a phone) shows which floor you're editing. Then, in the left panel's Structural section, tap Stairs. A shape menu opens: Straight, L-shape (right), L-shape (left), U-shape, or Circular (spiral). Pick one, then tap where the bottom step goes, then tap where the stairs reach the top — the stair is drawn between those two taps and opens selected, ready to size. On a phone, tap Structural & Interior at the bottom of the screen to reach the same tiles. Flights and landings come with real guard railings, and spiral stairs get inner and outer railings.

   

2. 2

   Connect it to the floor above

   If your design has a floor above, a new stair connects to it automatically. While the stair is selected the editor shows the floor above in blue with a FLOOR ABOVE label — drag the stair head onto one of its walls, or anywhere on that floor, so the top of the stairs lands where you want it upstairs. The stair's panel shows Where does this stair go? with the connected floor highlighted; tap another floor to change it, or Not connected to keep it as a stair that doesn't link floors. A connected stair's Rise follows the floor-to-floor height automatically (shown as AUTO), and its direction follows the connection — up to a floor above, down to a floor below. On the connected floor, the stairs show up as a faint DN — to Ground floor symbol, and in 3D the floor above gets a stairwell opening over the top of the flight. No floor above yet? Add one later from the Floors menu and any unconnected stair on the floor below connects to it by itself — see Building a multi-story floor plan.

   

3. 3

   Learn the six terms (the anatomy of a staircase)

   Before you touch the inspector, know what you're setting. A real staircase has six measurements, and RoomSketch3D speaks the same language a builder does. Rise — the total vertical height the staircase climbs, floor to floor. In a typical house, around 96–108 inches (8–9 feet). Riser — the vertical face of a single step (the bit your shin would hit). Standard residential riser height: 7–7.75 inches. Comfortable, code-compliant in most jurisdictions. Tread — the horizontal surface of a step, where your foot lands. Standard depth: 10–11 inches. Shorter and you can't fit your foot; longer and the staircase reads like a ramp. Rise ÷ riser ≈ the number of steps. Eight feet of rise ÷ a 7.5-inch riser ≈ 13 steps. Width — how wide the staircase is, perpendicular to the direction you climb. Residential: 36–40 inches. Code minimum is usually 36. Length (or run) — the total horizontal distance the staircase covers. A straight residential flight typically needs 12–15 feet. Direction — does this staircase go up from the floor you're on, or down to the level below? It matters for what's at the top vs the bottom in 3D, and for how the staircase appears on the plan.

   

4. 4

   Pick the shape — Straight, L (left or right), U, or Spiral

   Four shapes cover almost every residential staircase, and each one trades a different thing for the others. Straight — one continuous flight, no turn. The easiest to climb, the safest to descend, and the one that eats the most linear floor. Use it when you have 12–15 feet of run to spare in a single line. L-shape — one 90° turn at a landing, partway up. The footprint is two flights at right angles, separated by the landing. And L-shape has a direction: as you climb, the turn either goes to your left or to your right. Pick the orientation that matches the real staircase you're modelling — if the real stairs turn left going up, set the L to left. U-shape — also called a switchback or half-turn. Two flights doubling back on themselves, with a landing in the middle. Very compact — common in narrow townhouses and stairwells. Use it when you need to climb a full story of rise inside a small floor area. Spiral — a round footprint that corkscrews up around a center column, with inner and outer railings and a landing at the top. The tightest-space option of all — reach for it when even a U won't fit. Switching shapes updates the footprint live on the plan, so you can try each one and see what fits.

   

5. 5

   Set the dimensions in the stair's panel

   With the staircase selected, its panel runs along the bottom of the screen: Shape, Steps (and 2nd flt — the steps after the landing on an L or U), Landing, Width, Length, Tread, and Rise, with the resulting Riser height shown live. Reverse flips which way it climbs, Mirror swaps which side an L or U turns to, and Rails shows or hides the handrails in 3D. If a value breaks the usual limits the panel says so in red — for example Riser 10.9" (over 7¾" code max): add steps until the riser drops to about 7–7¾". Tap the ⓘ button in the panel for a plain-English definition of every term.

   

6. 6

   U-shaped stair around a wall: set the Gap (or tap Fit to wall)

   A U-shaped stair has one extra field, Gap — the space between its two flights. Many real U stairs wrap around a wall; set Gap to that wall's thickness (for example 4.5" or 6") and the steps stop at the wall instead of running into it, the landing widens to cover it, and in 3D the top of that wall follows the steps of the upper flight. With no wall in the gap you get an open well, and with Rails on the landing gets a guard rail across it. Already drew the wall between the flights? Select the stair and a Fit to wall button appears next to Gap: tap it and the stair sets the gap to the wall's thickness and centres itself on the wall. The button only shows when an interior wall actually runs between the two flights and fitting would change something. Don't see Gap? It only appears when Shape is U-shape. If your stair is a U and the field still isn't there, reload the page (or close and reopen the app) to pick up the latest version.

   

7. 7

   Position it on the plan

   Drag the staircase to where it actually sits in the home — along a wall, in a corner, or in an open space mid-room — and drag the round handles to reshape it. The footprint stays accurate as you move it, so Smart Flow Check checks furniture against the real stair area.

8. 8

   To delete a staircase: select it on its own floor

   Switch to the floor the stairs start on — open the floor menu (the floor name at the top of the left panel, or in the top row on a phone) and tap that floor. A stair belongs to the floor its bottom step is on. On the floor above you only see a faint DN — to Ground floor copy of it, which can't be edited or deleted there. Tapping it shows a note at the top of the plan — This stair belongs to Ground floor — edit or delete it there — with a Switch to Ground floor button that takes you straight to the stair's floor. Then tap the stair. If furniture or anything else sits on top of it, a small Select item list pops up listing everything under your finger — tap Staircase. (You don't need the Layers menu for any of this: Layers only switches things like labels and dimension lines on and off; it doesn't list or select objects.)

   

9. 9

   …then tap the red trash button

   With the stair selected, tap the red trash button that appears on the stair itself, or the red trash can at the end of the stair's panel along the bottom — or press Delete / Backspace on a keyboard. The stair and its stairwell opening on the floor above are gone. Changed your mind? Undo brings both back.

   

10. 10

    Walk up it in 3D

    Switch to 3D and the staircase renders as real stairs — walls, landings, slope. Drop into walk mode (W/A/S/D + mouse, or the on-screen joystick) and walk up it. This is the part that catches what 2D hides: head clearance, a doorway opening at the top, a landing that's tighter than it looked. See Switching to 3D and walking through your home.

    

Common mistakes

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