How high is a flight of stairs?

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

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.

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. 😟

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. 😝)

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.

In Fitbit, a flight of stairs equals roughly 10 feet of vertical climb (you don't get credit for descending). It doesn't key on how many steps or any other such item. You can tell because if you bicycle with a Fitbit, it will count stairs climbed as your vertical ascent in feet divided by 10. It doesn't care if you reached a "landing" or not. I'm betting Apple used somewhat the same system, though it would be nice to know what the exact setting is. If someone takes an iPhone on a bike ride and climbs a hill of known height, that should be possible to calculate.

I found a reference that a 'flight' is considered to be 12 feet (by the Health app). Since most stair-steps are ~8", you have to climb at least 18 steps for the effort to be considered a "flight" of stairs.

This number of steps (18+) is typically true for "one floor" for most commercial buildings; many, many homes, however, only have 12-14 stair-steps per floor, which is 10' or less -- so the Health app won't consistently register that as a 'flight' of stairs.

If you have 2 sets of stairs in your home, you can confirm this by going an extra 6 steps (e.g.: if you have basement steps, go from the first floor down 6 steps, back up, then continue on to the second floor).

I have also noted that 'landings' don't matter, as long as you don't stop walking (too long) on the landings.

Gerald Edgar wrote:

Perhaps mention the name of the app you are talking about...

You're responding to a two year old post. This thread go resurrected recently. Doubt the OP is still hanging about.

Best of luck.

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.

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

I have to know now 🙂

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.