Ready Made Terrace Staircase: From Drawing to Fitting

A terrace staircase is a different job from one inside the house. It stands in sun and monsoon rain, so it is built differently. A ready made terrace staircase is one built in the workshop to a proven pattern and your measurements, then delivered as finished components. This guide follows one from the first drawing to fitting day.

Start with two measurements

Everything depends on the floor to floor height, measured from the finished floor below to the finished terrace level above. It sets the number of steps and the height of each one. The second figure is the landing point at the top: the width and position of the terrace door or parapet opening the staircase has to reach.

Our guide on what to measure before ordering a ready made staircase covers how to take both, and the route the staircase must travel to get in.

From measurements to drawing

Measurements and photographs are enough for a quotation, and shop drawings are part of it. We do not charge a separate fee for them. Once the quotation is agreed we carry out the site survey, anywhere in India, and then confirm the drawing with you.

Mistakes that cost time

• Taking the height from a drawing instead of the building. A slab that is 40 mm off changes the height of every step.
• Measuring before the floor finish is laid, and forgetting to say what thickness it will be.
• Measuring the terrace door opening after plastering instead of the structural opening.
• Not checking the route in. Components have to get past turns, doors and a narrow stairwell.

Every one of these is cheap to fix on paper and expensive to fix once the staircase is standing in the wrong place. This is why the survey and the drawing come before any steel is cut.

Fabrication: two to four weeks

Fabrication takes two to four weeks from drawing approval. The staircase is built in mild steel or stainless steel at our workshop in Malad, Mumbai. Cutting, welding and grinding all happen there, so none of it happens on your terrace.

The finish decides how long it lasts

Terrace steel meets water every year. The finish is the only protection mild steel has, so we galvanise terrace staircases, and often add powder coating on top. Our guide to galvanised or powder coated finishes explains each, and our terrace and external staircase page explains how we detail drainage so water never sits in a joint or a hollow section.

Delivery and fitting day

The staircase arrives as finished components and is fixed to the structure on site. The parts that need care are the base plate, the fixings into the slab and the top connection at the terrace level. These are the places where water collects, so they are detailed for drainage before fitting.

After fitting

A terrace staircase needs a light inspection once a year, before the monsoon. We cover this in our page on staircase maintenance and repair.

If you want a staircase to reach your terrace, send us the floor to floor height and a few photographs through our contact page. We will come back with a quotation, and the survey follows once it is agreed.