There are many questions through the construction industry regarding the use of aluminium as a material for stairs in our commercial and industrial buildings, “what benefits are there with using aluminium in a stair”, “How do I design a stair with aluminium”, “will aluminium stairs reduce my carbon footprint”, “are aluminium stairs noisy”, “where do I go to get help in designing with aluminium”? These are some of the of the questions we repeatedly get.
Aluminium Stairs and their Drawbacks
There are many questions through the construction industry regarding the use of aluminium as a material for stairs in our commercial and industrial buildings, “what benefits are there with using aluminium in a stair”, “How do I design a stair with aluminium”, “will aluminium stairs reduce my carbon footprint”, “are aluminium stairs noisy”, “where do I go to get help in designing with aluminium”? These are some of the of the questions we repeatedly get.
So, in this document we seek to provide the facts relating to Aluminium stairs to help you to make your secondary access decisions.
How does the use of Aluminium impact the stair timeline?
In short, the material selection has no impact whatsoever. Steel requires galvanizing, Aluminium usually requires powder coating and timber would usually have a paint or stain applied. The timeline for your stair is primarily
impacted by the availability of standardized designs and automated configurators for your chosen material. Below we’ve set out the impact this has on the design, manufacture and installation timelines:
Stair Design: Stairs often become a design statement for the building and while that looks great it can have a very negative impact on the stair timeline. Stairs are complex at the best of times and they’re fraught
with compliance nuances designed to catch the most conscientious designers out! The simpler the stair design, the more can be automated. Our experience has taught us that design automation in stairs not only
reduces time, but it also increases compliance and reduces errors. Monkeytoe have created two stair configurators;
- One to generate designs for single flight industrial stairs
- The other to create external multi-residential stair towers. This system is able to generate simple but architecturally pleasing stair structures designed around central spline walls. There are limits
such as landing size and shape (must be some form of rectangle) and cladding choices are limited to a range of composite options etc.
Stair Manufacture Time: extended manufacture durations are usually the result of custom designs or the inability of the manufacturer to simplify and standardize the manufacturing process. If a stair design has
come from a configurator, you can almost guarantee that the manufacturing process backing up that design will be streamlined and generate consistent quality and timeline results.
Stair Installation Time. Once again, where designs and processes can be standardized the installation duration usually reduces and if nothing else, it becomes more consistent.
How do I design a stair with Aluminium?
It’s not easy! that is, if it’s your first time working with aluminium. An alloy stair designed using the same manufacture and design detailing as you’d use with a steel stair looks rather industrial, it’s clumsy to install and can
be a bit fragile.
Aluminium is usually extruded and the shapes are almost limitless. In Australia and New Zealand it’s possible to design extrusions greater than 250mm diameter which is far larger than you’d ever require for any stair. Because
aluminium stairs are based on extruded shapes it’s not economical to use aluminium in bespoke designs. A suite of extrusions which work together to form a standardized stair system that can be configured to suit your project is the best way to incorporate aluminium into your stair designs.
In New Zealand and Australia Monkeytoe have done just that, we’ve created a suite of extrusions which work together to form an architecturally pleasing, very standardized stair system which can be quickly configured to suit
your project. The design is preapproved by certified engineers, and the boundaries of the configurator are set to ensure the design cannot get outside the approved configurations. That’s why certified designs can be generated
within days, not weeks.
Incorporating aluminium stairs into your building design, is suddenly far simpler, more cost effective and far faster than any traditional stair design solution.
Will aluminium stairs reduce my carbon footprint?
In 2022 most Architects, engineers and building financiers are looking to create and finance greener buildings. Aluminium, due to its high recyclability can have a very positive impact on the buildings carbon foot print. Substituting concrete and steel with aluminium in the stairs makes sense, as it can also offer many operational advantages as well which we’ve set out in this paper.
Are aluminium stairs noisy?
Yes they are… that is, unless you know how to design aluminium stairs which are quieter than steel. There are many acoustic treatments available now to reduce sound and we’ve gone to many lengths to find ways to
effectively apply these treatments to stairs.
Sound is generated by vibration, so if you can stop the vibration, you can stop the sound. Acoustic design is included with the stair design service offered by Monkeytoe.
Fire – how will it impact my stair design??
There are no simple solutions on the market in 2021 which enable aluminium to be fire rated. The primary issue is that most protective coatings are designed to protect steel which begins to weaken at about 500 degrees. Aluminium needs to be kept below 300 deg.
Monkeytoe is in the final stages of testing a unique fire rating solution for aluminium but unfortunately, we don’t have it on the market yet.
If your stair is a fire stair, it doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be fire rated. Often a fire stair will be inside what’s called a ‘fire cell’. A Fire cell is created when all four walls are fire rated and there is no fire load inside the cell.
Because of this, even though your stair is a fire stair, aluminium still might be your best option. You’ll need to engage your fire engineer in the aluminium discussion as they’ll be able to provide the correct advice.