Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 5/9/2008

Question
I am an owner-resident of a townhouse-style condo in a Southern California CID community (with a HOA; the current CC&Rs and architectural guidelines are only applied to the exterior of units, and allow an owner to make any changes to the interior provided that they have had the work inspected and granted a building permit by the city.) My particular unit floorplan has stairs that ascend from the left going up to a loft-style bedroom.  I would like to change the direction that the stairs go up from so that they are on the same wall but ascend from the right when I am going to replace half of the total number of individual steps that have damaged wood underneath the carpet that they are covered in.  My staircase has an open design where each step is a separate piece and attatched to the side rails which also support the bannister as well; the change in direction will not involve the stairs having to move to a different area because I am going to create a new entry in part of an existing half-wall when I replace the loft rail with a half-wall and wooden shutters.  My neighbor does have stairs that would be going in the same direction should I decide to move mine, which are on the other side of the wall involved - would that affect the project I have in mind?  And how does one determine which walls are load-bearing or support, vs anything that isn't?

Answer
Jennifer - thanks for your question!

I can only guess at the structure, but it sounds to me like bearing walls don't come into play here at all.  When you turn the stair around you'll be attaching it to the same wall, right?

Ultimately you need to have this looked at by someone with construction experience, but it sure sounds like you can do it without a big structural problem.

I would caution you however - before you move/replace the stair, check with the building code.  The open-riser stair you're describing was probably built at least 20 years ago or more and is very likely illegal now.  Once you start messing with it you may have to build it to current codes - which may be a very different stair design!

You should be able to do the repair work without code issues, but as soon as you move it you might run into a bigger problem.  Check with your local building department first!

Hope this helps,

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com