Welding stairs in situ?
 

Hello

Our house has a steel framed, spiral (well, helical actually)
staircase. At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

My question is .... is this the sort of thing it is generally possible
to weld 'in place', or does it sound as if the stairs will have to be
dismantled, taken somewhere off-site, welded, then reinstalled?

The wooden stairs can be removed easily enough, leaving just the frame,
but the stairs are in the corner of the room, which is why I'm
suspecting the welding will have to take place elsewhere.

Any ideas?

On 1 Mar 2005 07:40:58 -0800, babbled like a
waterfall and said:

Hello

Our house has a steel framed, spiral (well, helical actually)
staircase. At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

My question is .... is this the sort of thing it is generally possible
to weld 'in place', or does it sound as if the stairs will have to be
dismantled, taken somewhere off-site, welded, then reinstalled?

The wooden stairs can be removed easily enough, leaving just the frame,
but the stairs are in the corner of the room, which is why I'm
suspecting the welding will have to take place elsewhere.

Any ideas?

I would be more worried as to why it snapped. It is obviously bearing
a greater load than it is made for/badly made.

I would consult the manufacturer and get their comments and
replacements from them

If welding is required this should be fine in situ but certainly
strengthening should also be undertaken.

I suspect it is from previous owners (stairs were installed by Barratts
when the house was built in 87) over tightening the stairs.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

Our house has a steel framed, spiral (well, helical actually)
staircase. At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

My question is .... is this the sort of thing it is generally possible
to weld 'in place', or does it sound as if the stairs will have to be
dismantled, taken somewhere off-site, welded, then reinstalled?

The wooden stairs can be removed easily enough, leaving just the frame,
but the stairs are in the corner of the room, which is why I'm
suspecting the welding will have to take place elsewhere.

Any ideas?


================
Are you sure the broken pieces are steel? They may be cast iron in which
case they will probably need to be removed for repair. If they really are
steel then repair 'in situ' should be straightforward provided that you can
protect the surrounding area from damage such as 'spatter' etc.

Cic.

On 1 Mar 2005 07:52:38 -0800, babbled like a
waterfall and said:

I suspect it is from previous owners (stairs were installed by Barratts
when the house was built in 87) over tightening the stairs.

Sounds like cast iron.

Might be useful to put a few pictures up on a web site and let people
here look at it.

You might find it useful to ask a small local steel fabricator to have
a look at the problem. You don't have to buy them, but comments they
make, might be useful. :))

It was somewhere outside Barstow when wrote:

At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

What has "snapped" ? A pre-existing weld, some steel, or some cast
iron.

I'd expect any steelwork to be weldable in situ.

Steel shouldn't snap. So either the steel failed, suggesting a design
fault, or the weld failed, suggesting either a design fault, or a
technique fault. Either is weldable, but you'll need to fix any design
faults as well. This may involve adding some welded-in buttress or
splice plate.

If it's cast iron, I'd not even try to weld it. CI is a pig to weld
at the best of times, the grade used here doesn't help, and it's an
uncertain strength afterwards. You'll need to remove it from the
stair to work on it, so on-site / sent away isn't all that different
in the end.

If it's cast iron and irreplaceable, then I'd use a steel patch
alongside it. This is a difficult thing to design, because you need to
avoid further breaks where you attach the repair splice.

Alternatively throw away the cast iron one and make new brackets from
steel. With a plasma cutter (or waterjet, for bulk production) you can
reproduce an awful lor of simple iron casting in profiled steel,
welded together as a built-up construction.

--
Smert' spamionam

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

Our house has a steel framed, spiral (well, helical actually)
staircase. At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

My question is .... is this the sort of thing it is generally possible
to weld 'in place', or does it sound as if the stairs will have to be
dismantled, taken somewhere off-site, welded, then reinstalled?

The wooden stairs can be removed easily enough, leaving just the frame,
but the stairs are in the corner of the room, which is why I'm
suspecting the welding will have to take place elsewhere.

Any ideas?


If the stairs are steel they can be repaired in situ, best done with an arc
welder using high carbon rods for strength. You will need some fire blankets
to protect the surrounding area.

If they are cast iron they will need to be removed, taken to specialist
welding firm and pre-heated before they are welded, or the stress of the
weld shrinking on cooling may cause further fractures.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

Our house has a steel framed, spiral (well, helical actually)
staircase. At four or five points (generally underneath the treads,
which can be removed) the frame has snapped.

My question is .... is this the sort of thing it is generally possible
to weld 'in place', or does it sound as if the stairs will have to be
dismantled, taken somewhere off-site, welded, then reinstalled?

Depending on construction materials used, they may not even be weldable at
all.