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 2:34 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
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    Oct 21, 2014 2:34 PM in response to Kappy

    Oh, now I remember what may be a flight of stairs consisting of thousands of stairs - the stairway to heaven.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 2:37 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 9 (51,114 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 21, 2014 2:37 PM in response to Kappy

    It's quicker if you descend

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 2:56 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 21, 2014 2:56 PM in response to Csound1

    There's no flight of stairs down. You just go straight to . Not even Dante walked.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 21, 2014 3:08 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 9 (51,114 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 21, 2014 3:08 PM in response to Kappy

    Dante took the long way around.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 21, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 21, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Csound1

    Yeah, but that was because it took a while to warm up to the place.

  • by kmckean,

    kmckean kmckean Nov 17, 2014 7:43 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 17, 2014 7:43 AM in response to Csound1

    For Fitbit, a flight of stairs equals roughly 10 feet of vertical climb (you don't get credit for descent!). I bet Apple chose roughly the same measure.

  • by kmckean,

    kmckean kmckean Nov 17, 2014 7:47 AM in response to wa4rqd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 17, 2014 7:47 AM in response to wa4rqd

    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.

  • by Dan Cornett,

    Dan Cornett Dan Cornett Jan 28, 2015 8:09 PM in response to wa4rqd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2015 8:09 PM in response to wa4rqd

    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.

  • by hydeaway62,

    hydeaway62 hydeaway62 Oct 2, 2016 10:20 AM in response to Dan Cornett
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Oct 2, 2016 10:20 AM in response to Dan Cornett

    My understanding is a 10' change in elevation equates to a flight to stairs. 

  • by Gerald Edgar,

    Gerald Edgar Gerald Edgar Oct 2, 2016 11:00 AM in response to wa4rqd
    Level 3 (776 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 11:00 AM in response to wa4rqd

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

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Oct 2, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Gerald Edgar
    Level 9 (59,500 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 2, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Gerald Edgar

    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.

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