Bespoke Staircase

[mint]

We have some cheap, nasty and overly steep stairs in our house and we are planning to get some specially made, as the floor to ceiling height is not "standard".

So far, although a few artisans have come to view the stairs, no one, as yet, has come up with a devis.

For those of you who have had stairs made, did the installers make the stairs themselves or did they use a large staircase specialist to make the stairs and then just did the fitting and installation themselves?

We are resigned to paying a sizeable amount, especially as the staircase position is in a prominent "vestibule" and they will need to look right as well as being functional.

Any suggestions or recommendations gratefully received.

[RicandJo]

A good joiner should be able to make a staircase.  We had a cottage in England with a stupidly steep and narrow staircase, so we had one made from scratch using "yellow pine".  We chose yellow pine at the suggestion of the joiner as we were not going to carpet it.

Most important thing to remember is that it must be assembled with glue otherwise it will just creak forever.

Having said that how do you find a joiner capable of doing a good job.

 

 

[Limousin Lass]

We asked 5 local artisans to quote for a new set of stairs (not standard), only 2 bothered to eventually send us devis which we thought were rather expensive.  We are now getting our stairs through our local builders merchants who have a selection of brochures for the various stair manufacturers that they use (part of the Tout Faire group) at a much better price and have found a local artisan to fit them.  We just took in all the measurements and a rough sketch of what we wanted and they returned drawings and prices of our chosen design..  Hope this helps.

Sylvia

[Patf]

We needed a new staircase and like Sylvia above found it difficult to get artisans to commit. So had one made to measure by Gedimat (builders merchants). A straight oak staircase with bannister rail, fairly basic, cost about 2500e. You can draw you own diagram with measurements and they copy this. Husband and friends installed it. We have since had landing bannisters made too.

[sid]

Sweet17

Have you had a look at the LAPEYRE catalogue (or visited one of their showrooms)? You can browse the e-catalogue online www.lapeyre.fr (e-catalogue/l'interieur/escaliers)

They do a good range of staircases with options for made-to-measure. If they fit it the TVA will be 5.5%. There have been some criticisms of they LAPEYRE installers but I find the actual products to be good.

Sid

[cooperlola]

These people are marvelous, although not cheap.  We have one of their staircases as do two others whom I know.  They kept to the agreed timetable and were excellent to deal with. I know they work throughout France although they are very close to me.

http://www.univers72.com/

You can either self-install or they will do it and you can specify your staircase down to the finest details.

[mint]

Thank you for all your suggestions.  I will explore each of the options you have so kindly provided.  We have budgeted for this expense when we bought so might as well get it put in ASAP.

[robbie]

Bricomarche also have 'off the shelf' stairs.

the website is www.bricomarche.com

[mint]

Thanks for trying to save me money, robbie.  But, alas, the height is non standard and we need something like 14 steps or 14 risers, can't remember which.

Bestest regards

[LesFlamands]

We make staircases to measure in oak such as this one recently installed

http://www.hautefortrenovation.com/img36.jpg

Cost of this was about 2.5 times the price quoted above (fitted).