Staircase that lifts for under storage

I have a 5 step staircase at the side entrance. It's quite narrow. They don't have risers. Underneath the staircase there is enough space for storage. Can hinges be installed at the top so that we can lift up the stair case?

 

Welcome to the forums.

Sure, anything is possible. Reminds me of how they got to Grandpa's lab on the Munsters

How about a couple pictures?
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

Hello
I have a 5-step staircase at our side entrance to our house. The steps do not have risers and i can see we have plenty of storage space under the stair entry. I would like to be able to lift up the small staircase. What size, type of hinge that would work at the top landing? Any ideas how to tackle this project?
Thank you

 

Two threads merged. .

 

Thank you. Ok I've posted a pic.

 

The stringers need to be strong so I would leave them in place. I think lifting the stringers with a hinge would be too involved.

You could build an assembly of only risers and treads and then lift that.
That's something I haven't seen and might be pretty cool.

 

I never thought of that. Pretty cool idea. Thank you!

 

2 separate thoughts:
My in laws had an above ground pool, with an elevated deck around a quarter of the pool (approx 4 ft. off the ground. They built stairs up to the deck that were hinged at the top, with the hinge pin at the level of the deck. They would raise and lower the steps as needed. It worked, but it was very heavy,

2nd thought (a follow up to the idea of a "riser and tread only" unit to lift out): I saw a complete wooden "rollable" stairs unit. It locked onto the top level using hook and eyes (big ones), and had wheels that locked/were levered up off the ground. A pain to move, but the thing was moved at most twice a year. Depending on how often you'd need to move it, it might be another option.

 

That's been my concern from the get go.

How often do you expect to access this new found storage? If stuff is stored and forgot about for a season, I like the idea of removable treads - they could be screwed/bolted in place.

 

Thank you very much! Very helpful.

 

Was going to store wooden dining chairs for when guests come over so access once a month or so. The staircase is not that heavy to lift up so I'm hoping to get away with just installing a hinge.

 

I've seen people use each riser as a spot for a drawer.

 

I appreciate all of your ideas. A big thank you to all!

 

They provide quite a bit of security against burglary . . . . IF you don't make them too obvious AND they don't become too commonplace.

As a Real Estate Broker, I've sold homes with such secret hiding places that the Owners didn't even want revealed to the Buyers until after we had a Closing scheduled . . . . or to me until we had established a trusting relationship.

 

Vermont, I bought a 1900 farm house once and after all inspections (such as could be expected) at closing the seller passed me a note as to where and how to open the hidden gun safe in the hallway.

Off Topic slightly: Another time I had to winterize a monster of a house and wondered why they left one book on the shelves.

 

I'm not recognizing what that device is in the corner of the top shelf of the bookcase you're showing.

I used to take room measurements and you'd reasonably expect that the sum of the inside dimensions would come fairly close to equaling the outside measurements of the overall dwelling . . . . but not always.

Sometimes it was good to point that out; other times it 's best to remain silent. Sometimes, the story will be worth more than the house when you tell them about "Old Mrs' Emerson who had the misfortune of being widowed 7 times, or had other Husbands who were well to do when they got hitched up . . . . but disappeared penniless." All I'd need to utter was something like " I've always wondered about that wall over there behind the China Cabinet being 3 feet thick; but never probed deeper ?"

They'd leave but think about that house for weeks and then rush to buy it and right off demolish that wall immediately to discover whatever secrets lay within !

 

It was a pin lock activated via cable from the book. Another book was probably used to hide the metal part.

 

I was thinking a pipe behind the steps near the top and a couple of pipe brackets holding the steps to the pipe with washer spacers so the brackets didn't fit too tight on the pipe. Put a couple of springs at the very top of the steps to help lifting it up if it is too heavy. In other words have it rotate on a pipe behind it.

 

Also, release the treads from the outer stringers, leave the stringers in place, install parallel stringers to the existing one, and to the treads, using the top of those stringers for your pivot point. You would still have full support of the outer stringers when in the down position, but the inner stringers would keep it all together when raising them.

 

I really like Larry's description of how to build this.