• Spirals concentrate access inside a small circle, often ~12–26 sq ft depending on diameter.
• A code-compliant straight stair with a landing typically occupies ~40–60 sq ft.
• Expect ~40–70% footprint reduction in common residential scenarios, plus bonus space under/around the stair.
• Most building codes call for around a 26-inch clear walk path, with comfortable step depth and rise, based on the the International Residential Code.

Why spirals save space

A spiral’s footprint is the area of a circle (the stair’s diameter). Instead of a long rectangle and landings, you get one compact, vertical column. A standard straight stair under the IRC must be at least 36″ wide and typically needs a 36″ landing at the bottom, which quickly increases its total footprint.

Typical footprints (for planning)

• Straight stair (9–10 ft floor-to-floor): 36″ width × ~11–12.5′ run + 3′ × 3′ bottom landing ≈ 41–47 sq ft (more with an upper landing or turns).
• L-shaped/U-shaped: add one or two 3′ × 3′ landings and a second run—commonly 50–65+ sq ft in tight homes.
• Spiral (by diameter):
  • 42″ ≈ 13.4 sq ft
  • 48″ ≈ 17.4 sq ft
  • 54″ ≈ 21.7 sq ft
  • 60″ ≈ 26.7 sq ft
  • 66″ ≈ 32.1 sq ft
  • 72″ ≈ 37.1 sq ft

  (Smallest available diameter is 3’6″; 4’6″–5’0″ are frequent sweet spots.)

Note: We add about 2″ to each spiral’s diameter to account for handrail clearance and comfortable everyday use.

Where a spiral unlocks the most usable space

1. Lofts & mezzanines: Spirals tuck into corners, reclaiming 20–30 sq ft for seating, storage, or a workstation.
2. Attic conversions: Spirals can meet IRC spiral stair provisions while threading through tight framing.
3. Deck access: Outside, spirals avoid large switchbacks and extra landings. Choose weather-ready finishes like powder-coated aluminum or galvanized steel for durability.
4. Small entries: A 4’–5′ diameter spiral can free the foyer for storage or better furniture flow.

Codes & comfort at a glance

• Straight stairs (IRC): min 36″ width, 10″ tread, ≤7¾” riser, 6’8″ headroom, 36″ landing minimum depth (The Spruce).
• Spiral stairs (IRC): min 26″ clear width, 7½” tread at 12″ from narrow edge, ≤9½” riser, 6’6″ headroom (ICC IRC R311.7.10.1).

Real-world comparison: 10′ floor-to-floor

Straight stair (36″ wide): ~12.5′ run + 3′ landing ≈ 46–50 sq ft.
Spiral 60″ diameter: ~26 sq ft.
Estimated reduction: ~50-55%. Plus, you can often stage usable storage or décor beneath and around the spiral.

Will a spiral help resale or perceived value?

While there isn’t a fixed percentage increase, real estate experts agree that buyers respond to usable square footage and visual impact. Spirals can make previously impractical square footage functional (like a finished loft or attic) and create a sculptural focal point that elevates photos and walkthroughs. According to The Spruce’s 2025 design forecast, “organic modern” design, mixing natural wood tones with clean architectural lines, is trending again, and a spiral with wood treads and a steel structure fits squarely within that aesthetic.

Choosing the right diameter

• Tightest spaces, maximum space savings: 42″–48″
• Daily use lofts, small families: 54″–60″
• Primary stair, frequent carries: 60″–72″+

Also consider handrail grip, tread surface (indoor wood vs. outdoor grip), and  or additional center balusters. For material inspiration, browse indoor steel and wood spirals or outdoor aluminum designs.

Smart planning checklist

• Confirm floor-to-floor height and headroom.
• Pick a diameter for your space.
• Plan landing direction.
• Match materials and finishes to your space (indoor or outdoor, design style, etc).

The post How Much Space Does a Spiral Save? appeared first on Paragon.

Since 1974 we have been committed to delivering nothing but the highest quality products directly to your home. Located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania we are proud to say all of the stairs we produce are made right here in the United States. At Paragon Stairs we offer a stair buying experience unlike any other, from a number of options to choose from, to our incomparable customer service, you will never feel left in the dark with us. 

Each stair order is completely customizable to fit your budget, needs and style. Regardless of what stair you choose we ensure our products will continue to perform. Did we mention each stair is customizable?  This means if you want white you got it, choose from a spiral style or straight stair. We work with you to make your dreams become reality. When your stairs arrive, assembly directions are clear and concise, but in the rare case you need help we are just a call away. 

“The process of using Paragon as a stair company was amazing…From the start, they consulted us on our choices and we came out with a beautiful solution for our space”. Our promise to you is to work closely from start to finish to ensure your project not only stays in budget, but lasts a lifetime. What are you waiting for? Call us today to get started on your project, we look forward to creating your dream with you. 

The post Let’s Take the Next Step Together appeared first on Paragon.

Part of that simple functionality includes easy, yet attractive, access between all floor both inside and out. A great solution for that access is a spiral staircase.

Balcony View

Part of what brings out the relaxation in a lake house is the portrait-worthy view right in your backyard. To absorb this to the full potential, you may have a second floor balcony with a small table and chair setup to enjoy early morning coffee, breakfast, a light read, and the sunrise over the lake and fog. You may also want to be able to leave that balcony to get closer to the dock or some other lakeside spot for a closer view after enjoying your morning read, breakfast, or coffee. You may also want to get closer without first having to go back inside and downstairs through the house. An exterior galvanized spiral staircase is the perfect application for this situation.

The weathered look of a battle-ship gray galvanized stair may offer just the right aesthetic to blend with the charm of a small balcony, too, making it a great functional and aesthetic choice.

Rooftop Deck Access

Other structural features your lake house may have include a rooftop deck. This offers the same bird’s eye view of your beautiful backyard, but with more room for entertaining guests staying at or visiting your lake house as opposed to the more intimate setting offered by a small balcony. That doesn’t make it any less valuable for you to install convenient exterior access.

Plus, you can take the opportunity to make your spiral stair a show-worthy piece for all of your guests to view and admire as they ascend to your rooftop deck. Creating a show-worthy piece like this is easy with a white powder coated, aluminum spiral stair accented with the right outdoor wood species for the treads.

Diving Board Access

Your lake house is for relaxation, true, but it’s also for recreation. A common source of fun at a lake house is a diving board into the lake. If you would like this to be the case for your lake house, then you may consider creating the safe access you need to the diving board with a galvanized spiral staircase. In addition to the galvanized aspect, though, you’ll likely also want to include diamond plat or fan cut treads to make it easier and safer to maintain traction even with wet feet going up and down the stair.

Your lake may also come with a multi-level dock for a boat. If that’s the case, a galvanized stair still works as a great way of connecting your two dock levels. Such a stair also works well for easy boarding access for your boat when docked. Plus the nautical look works so well in this setting.

Bunk Bed Access

In terms of indoor applications for your lake house, one common use may be for your guest quarters. It’s not rare to set up guest rooms with the intention of sleeping more than one or two guests, several more even. That’s because lake houses and other vacation homes are intended to service entire families or more at times. So, your guest room may be outfitted with a bunk bed or bunk beds. In this case, an all wood spiral stair may be an excellent solution. You may also consider a primed steel spiral stair if the theme of your lake house is a little more modern. Both can easily provide the look you want and the safe access you need to bunk beds for your guests.

The post Lake House Stair appeared first on Paragon.

As you go about hunting for the ideal staircase for your next renovation job, there are always several parameters you want to fulfill. So when you go about building your stair, you want the right look to suit your theme, the right materials to meet your usage, and the right structure to ensure safety and reliability. Perhaps above all of these considerations, though, is wanting the staircase to fit—literally.

That means you want a staircase with the right diameter to match the designated amount of space in your project area and, something that can oftentimes be difficult to peg for sure (especially during the conceptualization phase of any project), you want to know the height of your stair.

To be clear, in the staircase world (when we say height) we specifically mean “floor-to-floor” height. This means that your staircase’s height needs to span not just from the top of your starting floor to the bottom of the above ceiling, but from the top of the bottom floor to the top of the above floor. This is the measurement that accounts for the entirety of the height your staircase needs to meet to satisfy your project’s needs.

In many cases, this measurement will be a conventional or standard one. Which makes it easy to satisfy. Paragon Stairs offers a Build Your Own staircase system that allows you to select a ready-to-go height to meet these conventional heights while customizing every other aspect of your staircase to make it the ideal match. So long as you know the approximate floor-to-floor height, the part of the Build Your Own process is simple and quick.

Unconventional Staircase Heights

Even if you don’t know the exact number of this measurement and you only have an approximation, Paragon Stairs offers a staircase line that still makes it easy to accommodate your project. Our Compression Stair has the ability to adjust up and down using specialized spacers until it’s a precise match to your space.

Paragon Stairs also offers an in-depth, one-on-one consultative process to help you determine exactly what will be the right fit, making it easy for you to go in the right direction with the right product.

Custom Engineered Staircases for Unique Height Needs

On top of our readily-available measurements for more conventional project heights and our Compression stair line with the ability to adjust for less conventional project heights, our team of in-house engineers will custom cut a staircase to be a personalized fit for your project. During the one-on-one consultation process, please feel free to let our Staircase designers know about any detail you feel is pertinent and we’ll take that into account during the creation of your customized staircase.

Take a look at Paragon’s extensive line of staircases ready to meet any project needs in terms of looks and size. Whatever unique needs you may have, our friendly consultative team members and in-house engineers stand ready to meet and surpass them.

The post Spiral Staircase Height: Solving for Unconventional Spaces appeared first on Paragon.

Paragon provides spiral staircases for a broad number of needs both residential and commercial. In most cases, our buyers have greater freedom of choice in terms of designing their spiral staircase, however there are times when building regulations determine several aspects of the staircase from overall spiral staircase dimensions to additional safety features.

Most often, you need an IBC staircase if your project is commercial or in some other public use location. There are other times too. On these occasions, Paragon still offers a great selection of staircases in several materials and styles up to any code requirements, be they IBC spiral staircase code requirements or OSHA spiral staircase code requirements.

Advantages of Size and Safety with Code

Besides the times that require an IBC compliant spiral staircase, there are also times when you may just want some of the advantages of an IBC stair, whether your project’s situation requires it or not. One immediate advantage is that a code compliant spiral staircase must have a diameter of at least 5’, which gives you a much broader and more comfortable walking path than a non-code 3’6” diameter spiral.

A broader walking path also means more room for carrying items up and down your spiral staircase, and in the case of any home work shop, hobby shop, or other work related use, that ability comes in really handy.

Along the same lines as walking path, an important issue when it comes to room for traversing the staircase is headroom. Headroom, depending on the type of staircase, must be at least either 6′ 6″ or 6′ 8″. This room lets you avoid what you might call head-knockers (e.g. a basement staircase with a low-hanging beam overhead). To make picturing this space and its dimensions simple, imagine drawing a straight, sloped lined that intersects over the tip of each tread nosing at the angle of the staircase. The vertical line starting from this point and leading to the next object (perhaps another flight of steps) would be the available headroom.

One more aspect of an IBC code compliant spiral staircase is that it comes equipped with enough center balusters to ensure that the gaps between balusters is 4” or less. That is definitely a safer feature to have if your staircase will likely see use from young children or the elderly.

More than the greater comfort and safety, a larger staircase can also make a much more powerful statement in any commercial space with high visibility. Patrons walking into your office building’s lobby for the first time will be much more impressed by a grand 8’ diameter stair than they will by anything below the IBC minimum of 5’.

Settings for an IBC Staircase

If you want a staircase for a residential application, then check with your local building authority or municipality to see if you have to meet code. Odds are that you don’t have to. If your project is for any commercial application then you will. So just bear that in mind as you select dimensions and features for your spiral staircase purchase.

A non-commercial application that may not necessarily require a code spiral staircase but still fall under a category of when you could benefit from one is if you put your house on the market. When you sell a house, it can hamper your ability to find interested buyers if your current stairs do not meet code. Even if you don’t necessarily have to meet code in this case, you can only help your chances of selling your house and bumping up the value by installing a code stair.

A spiral IBC staircase has additional advantages when meeting code is a priority because it is both easy to install and economical for purchasing in bulk. So if you’re a landlord with several units that all have to meet code and you have to meet a tight deadline for finishing your newest building to fill with tenants that are already contracted, installing multiple identical IBC compliant spiral staircases is an excellent solution. Even if you only need to install one stair before selling or flipping a home, a spiral stair is the simplest way to accomplish this. Especially if an inspector will come relatively soon and you’re in a pinch for fixing a non-code compliant issue prior to inspection.

IBC vs OSHA Staircases

Keep in mind that if your project is for a warehouse, factory, or other work space, then IBC standards are not what you need to concern yourself with. Situations such as this are more the realm of OSHA standards.

So if you get an IBC compliant spiral staircase that does not necessarily mean you have an OSHA compliant staircase. However, Paragon is more than capable of creating an OSHA compliant staircase to whatever specs your employee environment demands.

If you want a yellow powder coat for visibility needs, and extra handrail, or any other specific features, Paragon’s in-house engineering department is more than up to the task of customizing a staircase for your work environment. Contact us to see what features we can offer in the way of IBC and OSHA code compliance for your project.

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