r/onejob • u/tigerjjw53 • 2d ago

Just needed to build a staircase

4.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

1.6k

u/tigerjjw53 2d ago

For context: one step is slightly bigger than the others

494

u/whotookchester 2d ago

the edges dont help either

181

u/Daveguy6 2d ago

I've lived in a commy "big brother" quattro and the steps were just like that. Who the hell adds ledges to stairs? Also they were 100% drunk during construction.

44

u/Questioning-Zyxxel 2d ago

The first steps have been sinking down, creating the extra height difference to the next step. So this height difference wasn't there from the start.

Look at the front of the higher step. The bottom part of the front shows how the height have changed as the first steps have dropped down.

4

u/Daveguy6 1d ago

I mean our house. It's been like that for 40+ years

9

u/steven4012 2d ago

A lot of the stairs in China have edges. No idea what they are for, but when I lived there as a kid I'd do sometimes hook the front of my shoes on the edge deliberately as I climb them

18

u/TurtleBob_The1st 2d ago

Do you mean the overhang on the tread? If so that's actually better and more comfortable. It's just the height variation that's causing people to slip

17

u/murso74 2d ago

Oh, I thought there was a force field

9

u/scunliffe 2d ago

Yup, this is why the building code specifies the rise and run of each step must remain constant throughout the set of stairs

15

u/FiercelyApatheticLad 2d ago

Slightly? It looks convincingly higher from quite a distance, I'd say 5 cm. This almost looks intentional.

19

u/SirDigger13 2d ago

Even an centimeter will have pppl trip, humans are lazy so we lift our feet just as high as we need it.

3

u/thepioushedonist 1d ago

I swear I saw something about this being intentional sometimes to screw with people. Could have been a fever dream too. Unsure.

7

u/dribrats 2d ago

I don’t know context, but often in castles and elsewhere, they intentionally did this as small defensive countermeasures

7

u/LonePaladin 2d ago

I got you fam -- I posted a comment to this effect about 9 years ago, including a link to a site that explains it.

7

u/Pavlovski101 1d ago

Great, I finally have an excuse to start asking my players to roll a dexterity check whenever their characters go up a flight of stairs in a hurry.

1

u/Darryl_Lict 16h ago

I heard that most spiral staircases in castles are clockwise because most people swordfight right handed.

2

u/AndringRasew 2d ago

They really should paint that riser yellow or something.

-7

u/VisPacis 2d ago

Yeah I think we noticed it

331

u/Starminder1 2d ago

r/DeathStairs

74

u/Peek_e 2d ago

My gosh there really is a sub for everything

1

u/gloriousPurpose33 23h ago

If someone had access to the data I wonder how many times this phrase has been said now.

And another graph for how many times people like me have commented on that

2

u/Peek_e 21h ago

True, I said it because I’ve seen people saying it and whenever a random sub appears my initial thought is ”there really is a sub for everything”. It’s a vicious cycle.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

121

u/MaiT3N 2d ago

I am furious just watching this

59

u/xDNikolaus 2d ago

That's why DIN 18065 exists

55

u/ramriot 2d ago

BTW if you ever visit a medieval castle that has a stairs just in from the main gate you will see quite a variation in the rise & run of each stair. At first I assumed this was just due to crappy masons, but elsewhere in such castles the stairs in towers are perfectly regular.

Turns out ( as demonstrated in the video ) it can be quite difficult without looking at them to walk up uneven stairs. Which make a lot of sense if your intention is to slow down & distract attackers while you set up a defence if they breach the main gate.

19

u/Knightraven257 2d ago edited 2d ago

I have read that this is actually a myth modern people have attributed to medieval castles.

Edit: not that they don't have different heights of stairs, just that it was intentional specifically for the purpose of tripping potential attackers. They definitely have different heights of stairs.

Edit edit: https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/castle-blog/spiral-stairs

This article I just found from 2022 also says it's probably not an intentional thing.

7

u/princesscatling 1d ago

Real "feature not a bug" energy

49

u/HolySmokes802 2d ago

Dude, why wouldn't you make it the bottom step? This is serious malpractice.

20

u/clockworkdiamond 2d ago

Looks like the ground under the stairs shifted/settled at that step, and to fix it, they added concrete to the void making that one step significantly taller than the others. I'm sure that it was way cheaper than doing it correctly. You can watch YouTube videos of steps that are just 1/4" taller than others and people trip on them all day long. This one is entire inches taller, and it looks like it has been like that for a long time. Not sure where this is, but I feel like in many places there would be a lawsuit by now.

13

u/bdubwilliams22 2d ago

It’s juuuust a little taller than the other steps.

9

u/Wolflink_325 2d ago

Thats why we have the good old DIN 18065 or Bequemlichkeitsregel where its said that a staircase has to be The comfort rule for stairs states that the tread width minus the rise should be approximately 12 centimeters. The formula is: tread width – rise = approximately 12 cm. This rule ensures that ascent and descent are comfortable.

10

u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 2d ago

Actually malicious to pattern-seeking brains

2

u/thebestdogeevr 2d ago

The last step in my parent's house is slightly taller, it throws people off but we're so used to it we forget to tell people

2

u/anal_opera 2d ago

Sheldon Cooper did it first.

2

u/fwimmygoat 1d ago

It's amazing how small a difference it takes

2

u/Mitridate101 14h ago

It might help if people weren't on their phones.

4

u/wenoc 2d ago

Is this built by bloody stupid Johnsson?

1

u/Uberpastamancer 2d ago

I warned you about stairs, bro

1

u/EpicRail 2d ago

Dude my dentist has one of those stairs and the thing is its like at the point where its already 10 meters up so if you fall youre done for

1

u/CuppaJoe11 2d ago

Someone needs to setup a coffee shop right next to it for spectators.

1

u/realjimmyjuice000 2d ago

That one riser is about an inch taller than the others!

1

u/LadyClairemont 2d ago

Just bought a house with this issue and I know that one day, I'm going down. I need to head over to DIY to see how to fix it!

1

u/13assman 2d ago

It’s pretty apparent they weren’t built that way. The bottom three steps appear to be on a slab that has sunk. You can see the old mortar line on the face of the fourth step, it was built correctly initially until time took its toll.

1

u/bloodr3dsummer 2d ago

Sorry. I could watch this all day 🤣

1

u/Mac_Hooligan 2d ago

In there defense that step is taller than the rest! I would have done the same thing 🤣🤣🤣🤣

1

u/Ill-Wrongdoer-2971 2d ago

I could watch this for hours

1

u/deeppurpleking 1d ago

I forget where I heard it but apparently people can notice a 2mm difference in steps, dunno exactly how accurate that is. This looks like a good inch or two difference though

1

u/Electricel_shampoo 1d ago

and that is the reason why DIN 18065 exists in Germany.

1

u/RadiantAd7032 1d ago

Kinda interesting to me that the mind is so used to moving and cooridination that it just automatically knows how to guage the distance and height of the steps without even looking.

1

u/forest_hobo 1d ago

Whenever I walk I always look down like a beaten dog thus I never stumble 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/Exotic_Butters_23 1d ago

DIE TREPPE IST NICHT GENORMT

1

u/chaitanyathengdi 1d ago

This is why everyone should know math.

1

u/kiln_monster 1d ago

Why did they put a random big step in the mix??

1

u/myvelolife 1d ago

There was at least one subway station in NYC that had a similar problem and eventually got fixed. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-02/new-york-city-fixes-mayhem-causing-subway-stair

It's amazing how a small, unexpected difference in step height can really throw you off.

1

u/Wookie_Rampage89 1d ago

There’s math behind good steps. When you take your first step up a staircase. Your brain assumes all of the other steps are the same height so it’s auto pilot when walking up stairs.

1

u/Plex_15 1d ago

always the left leg

1

u/adorak 1d ago

yea the one people have troubles with is quite clearly a little higher than the others ... once the video ends you can see it really well I think. Also aligns with what I learned in tbbt :)

1

u/MysteriousCodo 1d ago

And this is why building codes say steps need to have little to no difference in the rise of each step. There is some small variance allowed, but not much.

People don’t look at their feet while walking up. And if that bad step is in the middle, yeah it’s going to catch a lot of people.

1

u/ersnogood 1d ago

This is like basically every single stair I’ve seen in any southeast Asian hostel ever…

1

u/PsychologicalHope884 1d ago

If i ever build a staircase I'm going to do this

1

u/TheBestOfTheBest-66 1d ago

Omg my knees bruh

1

u/Quick_Hat1411 1d ago

You're supposed to look at the steps and mentally map them so your feet know where to go. Just like when you're climbing a hill

1

u/HabitOfChoice 16h ago

"Gotta fix that step"

1

u/-Scobra- 15h ago

Die Treppe ist nicht genormt

1

u/Bubbly-Guarantee-988 7h ago

Human behavior was not in mind when these stairs were designed.

-2

u/Robbie1266 2d ago

I would say the people not paying attention are equally part of the problem

2

u/_CriticalThinking_ 1d ago

Do you analyse step by step when you take the stairs ?

-1

u/AmadeusSmith 2d ago

This is so typical of China. I lived there over a decade, and never encountered a modern staircase that one could ascend without tripping over an uneven step. It’s as though basic building construction escapes them.

0

u/Mayonez_Drinker 1d ago

Thats why in Germany we have DIN 18065 which regulates how staircases have to be. One more reason why i love Germany for overregulating everything!

0

u/Lakefish_ 22h ago

Welp, I'd trip on it too. Took a few people for me to notice.

0

u/Curry_Tales 18h ago

Sheldon Cooper was right

1

u/321Jarn 51m ago

The least they could have done is put some of that yellow-black danger tape and do that. But no, they did nothing to (temporarily) fix it.