On 21 Apr 2007 23:31:59 +0100 (BST), Theo Markettos
wrote:

wrote:
Often spiral stairs have a near full circle handrail on the upper
floor, with a gap where
you step onto the top landing on the spiral.

I'm not sure I quite follow you... this circle is to prevent people falling
down the stairs which aren't enclosed?

How would the trapdoor work around the handrail?

Do you mean the door is likely to obstruct the handrail when open? I
suppose something could be fitted to the bottom of the door to function as a
handrail when the door is open, assuming it didn't conflict with anything in
the closed position. The door might have to lock open so that it's strong
enough to support someone pulling on this rail.

You raise a good question though... how big does the door need to be to get
enough headroom when ascending? That could make things tricky.

Any sort of a door near the bottom of a staircase could spell a real
disaster (cf Victoria Hall 1883). Seriously.

--
Frank Erskine