wa4rqd

Q: How high is a flight of stairs?

I go from the main floor of my house to the basement several times a day and it never counts as a flight of stairs. But in a commercial building, where the ceilings are around 12 feet instead of the 8 feet in a private home, it counts the flight of stairs. So the question is, is a flight of stairs 12 feet? 10 feet?

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 1:12 PM

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Q: How high is a flight of stairs?

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 1:16 PM in response to wa4rqd
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:16 PM in response to wa4rqd

    A flight of stairs is not defined in height because it can be of any arbitrary height. It is the distance from the bottom landing to the top landing. Thus, a flight of stairs is anything.

  • by wa4rqd,

    wa4rqd wa4rqd Oct 21, 2014 1:19 PM in response to Kappy
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:19 PM in response to Kappy

    If a flight of stairs is arbitrary, the why don't the the flight of stairs in my house count, but those in a commercial building do?

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 1:26 PM in response to wa4rqd
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:26 PM in response to wa4rqd

    Count according to what? Do you call them a flight? If you do, then that's what they are. Doesn't really matter if the ceiling height is 4 feet or forty feet. The height of the flight is from standing to landing (trying to make it rhyme. )

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 1:29 PM in response to Kappy
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:29 PM in response to Kappy

    How many steps in a flight, and how high is a step, forget it, this isn't helping.

  • by wa4rqd,

    wa4rqd wa4rqd Oct 21, 2014 1:32 PM in response to Kappy
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:32 PM in response to Kappy

    If it doesn't matter how high, then why does the iPhone not count them? I go up stairs to a landing but it's not counted as a flight of stairs. But if I go up the flight of stairs at the Rec Center, it is counted. The only difference I can see is the height.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 1:41 PM in response to wa4rqd
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:41 PM in response to wa4rqd

    Because the program used in the iPhone is measuring a change in height to determine when a flight of stairs has been completed. Unfortunately, that's just arbitrary, so many times it will be wrong. If you want to make a comment about it then drop a line in Apple Feedback.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 1:43 PM in response to Csound1
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:43 PM in response to Csound1

    Doesn't matter. Don't strain your brain. You might damage it.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 1:43 PM in response to wa4rqd
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:43 PM in response to wa4rqd

    There is a professional association for this matter

     

    Check out their link.

    The Stairway Manufacturing Code Association published the International Residential Code (PDF Link) in 2006 which tells you just about everything you could ever want to know about stairs, including:

    • minimum headroom depth (6' 8")
    • minimum tread depth (10")
    • maximum rise (7.75")
    • maximum tread depth variability (3/8")
    • maximum rise variability (3/8")
    • maximum slope of riser (30°)

    A brief look reveals nothing about how high a flight is though, (although it does specify nearly everything else) It's a mystery to me.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 1:45 PM in response to Kappy
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    Oct 21, 2014 1:45 PM in response to Kappy

    I have to know now

  • by wa4rqd,

    wa4rqd wa4rqd Oct 21, 2014 2:09 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 2:09 PM in response to Csound1

    The program can count steps and it can measure elevation. So some number of steps resulting in the elevation increasing a certain amount is measured as a flight of stairs. My problem is that the stairs I use quite a few times a day never result in the iPhone counting a flight of stairs. But that doesn't mean it's not working because somewhere else it does count the flight of stairs. I just would like to know its criteria or even better, be able to set these thresholds. , I

     

    Kappy, I can see you aren't straining your brain.  :-)

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 2:12 PM in response to wa4rqd
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    Oct 21, 2014 2:12 PM in response to wa4rqd

    Too many variables and unknowns, how high are the steps in your stairs, does an equal number equate to the same elevation change on both, etc etc.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 2:17 PM in response to Csound1
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    Oct 21, 2014 2:17 PM in response to Csound1

    The code document you quoted is now 8 years old. You should read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairs. Very informative, loaded with terminology, but not a single mention of the height of a flight nor how many steps make up a flight. Apparently, the term "flight of stairs" means, "A flight is an uninterrupted series of steps."

     

    Even the measurements in that code document simply provides the approximate height of a step as the "maximum rise." But no mention of what the flight of stairs would be.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 2:29 PM in response to Kappy
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    Oct 21, 2014 2:29 PM in response to Kappy

    8 year old code, how clumsy.

     

    But it did raise another question.

     

    At what point does a series of steps become a flight of stairs? Try as I might the transition point remains elusive.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 2:32 PM in response to Csound1
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    Oct 21, 2014 2:32 PM in response to Csound1

    The transition is when the series of steps is interrupted - like at a landing. In theory that could be hundreds of stairs. Why anyone would do that, I don't know.

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