Stairs Behaviour

[amara]

The handling of stairs is always problematic in Revit. I think much modification is needed there. We always endup reworking stairs in plans and sections with tedious linework and filled regions. Here is a short list of what I am talking about:

1- The structure of stairs should be able to attach to other structural elements i.e. floors, slabs, beams. etc. It is taking so much to make the stairs appear realistic within the structure.
2- Components: Stair components including treads and risers need to be specified. A marble tread for example is usually 3 cm thick and requires 2 cm mortar above the stair sturcture. There is no way of showing this - as in floors.
3- Upper landings: Upper landing need to be part of the stair structure. Only middle landings are allowed.
4- The strange behaviour of text and arrows needs to be addressed. I nearly always get DN and not UP text and arrwos in my plans whatever I do.
5- We should have the option to show hidden line for the offset distance of risers in plan views.
6- Stair tags: Stair tags with the option to tag each flight seperatly is very much needed. Currently we do this as text. Also the option to have stair numbering tags would be very useful.

These are some points which I find most irritating. I would like to hear what other users views / comments are on the subject.

Thanks

Charles

[dhurtubise]

I have to agree with you. I would also add the fact that controlling the display of up and down thread and risers would be useful.
Also a "cut plane" just for stair, independent of the view, would be nice since plan region don't work really well on most of the stair shape.

[Max Lloyd]

Like site tools, with lots and lots and lots and lots of patience and experimentation, much is possible. It just should be soooo much better!

My 2 christmas crackers worth!

Max

[amara]

I hope these shortcomings are known to the development team addressed very soon - next release??

[radu.grosu]

I agree with you. And there are more problems with stairs than those mentioned above..And I don't think the next release will contain much improvement as these problems were all present in version 8..I'm waiting for version 10 to reach my conclusion regarding Revit.

[cphubb]

Keep asking. The stairs got much better in 8 but have stalled since.

[rmejia]

I agree. Right now I am looking to how others deal with stairs because I am having many problems with them, specifically conecting the end to the floor, and making the railings join correctly and be at a specific level. With the "monolithic" stairs some of the options don't seem to work like the Riser Type. I really wish they could "join" the floor or some other component.

[amara]

I hear that Revit 10 is on the way. I certainly hope stairs improvement is on the way. I would consider this a priority. More options should be allowed regarding stairs components and how these interact with other building components - floors. For example a concrete stair should join with a concrete slab. Walls should be attached to stair runs, as in slabs.etc.

[jcoe]

I would like to see more flexibility in the stairs where we would have the ability to create external tread families, stringer families, etc... and then attach them to a stair type. Something that works much in the same manner as curtain walls. You start with a base system family, however, the key component makeup is defined by families you create.

[nandini]

i agree with all the problems about stairs...
but as workaround for the cut plane for the staircase region, use the plan region command....that allows a little flexibility.

[whittendesigns]

I am honestly, seriously considering making my own stair families. Residential, of course though. I don't know if it would be much help for commercial projects.

[radoss]

The handling of stairs is always problematic in Revit. I think much modification is needed there. We always endup reworking stairs in plans and sections with tedious linework and filled regions. Here is a short list of what I am talking about:

1- The structure of stairs should be able to attach to other structural elements i.e. floors, slabs, beams. etc. It is taking so much to make the stairs appear realistic within the structure.
2- Components: Stair components including treads and risers need to be specified. A marble tread for example is usually 3 cm thick and requires 2 cm mortar above the stair sturcture. There is no way of showing this - as in floors.
3- Upper landings: Upper landing need to be part of the stair structure. Only middle landings are allowed.
4- The strange behaviour of text and arrows needs to be addressed. I nearly always get DN and not UP text and arrwos in my plans whatever I do.
5- We should have the option to show hidden line for the offset distance of risers in plan views.
6- Stair tags: Stair tags with the option to tag each flight seperatly is very much needed. Currently we do this as text. Also the option to have stair numbering tags would be very useful.

These are some points which I find most irritating. I would like to hear what other users views / comments are on the subject.

Thanks

Charles

I fully agree whit Charles. This things are very important because the revit is good, but should be more accurate in details.

[UpNorth]

See attached for 'work around' for adding top and bottom landings to stairs - it has some limitations. Hope this helps.

[MTristram]

Definitely more flexibility in how Stairs are displayed in plan is required. It would seem we down under display our stairs a little differently from Up North and can't achieve this very easily at present.

Revit seems to want to show the flight continuing up past the cut plane as dashed, we'd rather show the flight from below continuing to the current floor - any ideas?

Yeah - sorry this is only if you have a single flight of stairs from one level to another, not a multistorey stair.