Thread: Stair riser & nosing

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Yes. I measure from horizontal tread surface to horizontal tread surface. Your feet and natural rhythm will traversing stairs don't care what causes the height difference.

Those are laminate stairs correct? I have seen these many times and always indicate the trip hazard present which is the cap at the nosing. This is a very bad design and should not be allowed.

Originally Posted by Clay White

With the nosing, the riser height at the nosing measured 7 7/8". The riser itself is 7 3/4". Does this noising make it a violation of the 7 3/4" rule?

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

Yes. I measure from horizontal tread surface to horizontal tread surface. Your feet and natural rhythm will traversing stairs don't care what causes the height difference.

Actually the answer is 'yes and no'.

"Riser Height" is measured from the horizontal at one nosing vertically to the horizontal at the next riser (up or down), not tread to top of riser.

How is this different?

Because, as Wayne pointed out, those nosings for laminate (and many for wood) flooring have an actual thickness which is greater than the thickness of the tread flooring itself, creating a trip and fall hazard (which needs to be written up).

Now, assuming that Clay's "The riser itself is 7 3/4" refers to the tread-to-tread or nosing-to-nosing dimension, then the "rise" ("riser height") of the stair is correct (not greater than 7 3/4"), however, the raised nosing creates a trip and fall hazard, but not a "riser" problem per se. When walking down the stairs, as Jim said, your feet will find the rhythm of the stairs, tread-to-tread, and the only time that riser will come into play is when you trip over it.

Also, what is the tread depth? The width of the stair?