dolls house source information about building your own dolls house adding a staircase

…Build Your Own Dolls House – Adding A Staircase

This article follows on from …Build Your Own Dolls House – Cutting Out The Pieces. It will not be possible to put your cut out pieces in place permanently until you have cut a hole(s) in the landing(s.) Most period dolls houses can support a staircase that is 2 2.2 inches (5-5 ½ cms) wide. Most period dolls houses (unless they have particularly high ceilings will need between fourteen and sixteen stairs in a flight. Stairs can be cut from a stained piece of triangular shaped wood or staircase kits can be bought from dolls house suppliers. If you are making your stairs, glue the cut stairs onto a strip of thin wood fourteen inches long (35.5cm) and 2.2 inches (5 ½ cms) wide.

If the stairs are to run from the front to the back of the house and you will not be able to see the sides of them once they are completed, stairs can also be made by gluing blocks measuring 1 inch (2.5cm) by 2.2 inches (5 ½ cms) on top of each other, each set back half an inch to create the step.

To fit the steps into the house. Mark a line on the ground floor where the stairs will start from. Mark a line on the upstairs ceiling where the hole needs to be cut from. (Ensure that the stair treads are horizontal while you do this.) The top tread will be stuck to the underside of the ceiling and the stair angle should be around forty five degrees. Cut a hold in the first floor. This hole needs to be 2.2 inches (5 ½ cms wide and run approximately 5 ½ inches (14cm in front of your pencil line) Make sure that the hole you cut has room behind it so your dolls can step off the staircase and onto the landing. Stairs that rise from this floor to another floor need to run in the opposite direction from the opposite side of the landing, or if the landing is to be a corridor, they can run immediately over the top of the first set of stairs.