interesting staircase

[Jacob]

Dundee Back-packer's hostel:

 

[ColeyS1]

That is a bit different ! Cant see any strings, I wonder if they made it up as they went along tread by tread fixed to battens on the wall, then plastered in for good measure?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Stairs like that, in a backpacker hostel? It looks tricky to navigate before going out on the town. Good job falling up is safer than falling down.

Correct me if I am wrong, but those stairs would be forbidden in any new building, but also will almost certainly be listed and therefore forbidden to remove/replace with something safer?

I wouldn't know where to begin if I had to work on them!

 

[Doug B]

Put some false stringers on a similar flight of stairs last year nothing was the same size, the rise the go or even the thickness of timber used. On the underside were two 3x3” Oak timbers parallel to each other running the length of the stairs, seemed to work well as they must have been a couple of hundred years old & were still going strong.

Hope you & Pam had a good holiday.

 

[Trevanion]

Correct me if I am wrong, but those stairs would be forbidden in any new building, but also will almost certainly be listed and therefore forbidden to remove/replace with something safer?

So long as it doesn't exceed minimum going and maximum rise (But it looks like they're all different as you get with old bodged staircases) and so long as there are sufficient handrails it should be fine to make something like that. Also, I think even if it's listed you can do whatever you like inside so long as it does not affect the exterior of the building but that could be wrong information in certain circumstances.

 

[Jacob]

Yes it's an interesting old listed building. As Trevanion says you could probably work up something similar and comply with building regs, but not to fit this space I'd guess.
Doug's staircase (two bearers etc) is a common and easy trad way of making a staircase and can be finished to perfection if required. That's how they were originally done here in our Chapel, including winders. All bearers and boards nailed together, no joints of any sort. Look a mess underneath but very practical.
Nice hol thanks Doug. Berwick/Dunbar/Dundee (saw the new V&A - spectacular), Dunkeld and a few other places. The north is very civilised. Even the Scottish public bogs are better - clean and accessible. They are closing pubic bogs all over England, I guess they are trying to set off a health crisis and bring back cholera etc to sort out the surplus population and reduce waiting lists.

 

[jimmy_s]

I think the building is gardines land in Dundee. It's the oldest building in the city. I worked on it about 20 yrs ago. It's listed and was like a maze. The building warrant was a nightmare because of escape routes and the lack of fire protection. It had to be sprinklered from memory. Our involvement ended as the project ran out of funding it was being funded by a local preservation trust who's name escapes me. Some of the beams in the building were seriously long and must have come to Dundee via the sailing ships from the Baltic's or somewhere.

 

[Jacob]

Yes that's it! Fire doors and sprinklers everywhere, very strict ban on smoking. Two extra emergency escape routes from our room at the top of a tower (The Macleod Suite - not as grand as it sounds!).
Nice friendly place to stay, half the price of a B&B, mostly foreign students and other foreign visitors, all tapping away at their laptops in the breakfast room.
First time I've ever had a close look at the ingenious Scottish sash window system - the bottom sashes hinge out and can be safely cleaned from inside.
The V&A show is about Scottish engineering design ingenuity too, MacIntosh, Telford, ship building etc. More to Dundee than marmalade and Jute!

 

[MikeG.]

........ even if it's listed you can do whatever you like inside so long as it does not affect the exterior of the building

That is absolutely 100% wrong. Anyone following this advice could find themselves committing a criminal offense.

but that could be wrong information in certain circumstances.

Not in certain circumstances.......in ALL circumstances.

 

[Benchwayze]

More to Dundee than marmalade and Jute!

Yes Jacob.
There's Desperate Dan too!

Seriously, a staircase of any sort has an inherent risk, but given my vertigo... No thanks.

John (hammer)

 

[Jacob]

More to Dundee than marmalade and Jute!

Yes Jacob.
There's Desperate Dan too!....

I bumped into him just outside the hostel (pink building to the left). That's Minnie the Minx behind, pointing a catapult in my direction.

 

[Lons]

Also, I think even if it's listed you can do whatever you like inside so long as it does not affect the exterior of the building but that could be wrong information in certain circumstances.

Not in England you can't unless you want to risk some serious fines, I don't know where you got that from but it's 100% wrong information :roll:

 

[Trevanion]

Also, I think even if it's listed you can do whatever you like inside so long as it does not affect the exterior of the building but that could be wrong information in certain circumstances.

Not in England you can't unless you want to risk some serious fines, I don't know where you got that from but it's 100% wrong information :roll:

That is absolutely 100% wrong. Anyone following this advice could find themselves committing a criminal offense.

Well colour me a fool . I never knew listing affected interiors too (I really should know this #-o), it's what I was always told and it's what I've always preached, I won't be doing that anymore!

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Also, I think even if it's listed you can do whatever you like inside so long as it does not affect the exterior of the building but that could be wrong information in certain circumstances.

Not in England you can't unless you want to risk some serious fines, I don't know where you got that from but it's 100% wrong information :roll:

That is absolutely 100% wrong. Anyone following this advice could find themselves committing a criminal offense.

Well colour me a fool . I never knew listing affected interiors too (I really should know this #-o), it's what I was always told and it's what I've always preached, I won't be doing that anymore!

There used to be a time, back in the dim and distant past, when you could do what you wanted with your own property, and no one would dream of telling you not to. Given that all property is taxed (you own it, but you still pay rent!?), and you have to ask permission before you change anything - easier and simpler to just rent someone else's houses and leave them to have all the stress. I have a friend who curses his house - recons a campervan is all you need in life. I sort of agree, but puzzle over where to put the pigs, sheep, chickens, children, garden etc.

 

[Jacob]

......
There used to be a time, back in the dim and distant past, when you could do what you wanted with your own property, and no one would dream of telling you not to.

Very long time ago. There were regs back in the Roman era. Medieval villages had to conform to the building line etc Fire regs took off after the fire of London 1666. Regs developed steadily over the years, basically to protect us from unscrupulous developers, builders and landlords, and, not least, our own incompetence. A bloody good thing too

Given that all property is taxed (you own it, but you still pay rent!?), and you have to ask permission before you change anything

No, all property is not taxed - its remarkably tax free which is why it is such a popular investment. You don't have to ask if you want to change 'anything'- it's just a list of things relating to your safety and amenity etc. It may relate to external appearance especially in conservation areas which is of course a very good thing.
TN is always interesting - it's as though he recently arrived from outer space, or the distant past, wandering about wide-eyed in an unfamiliar world where he knows and understands almost nothing at all! :lol:
PS most significant bye laws following the fire of London was re the party wall - to prevent spread of fire to next door