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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> > In 1990 one million people went to the hospital or morgue from falls 
> > down stairs---and kids, elderly with second story bedrooms typically 
> > do not survive a fire whose killer heat and fumes rush up a staircase.
> > Two-story houses and their staircases are killers no one should allow 
> > in family living quarters any more than uncaged thirty-foot Boa 
> > Constrictors.
>
>
> I am currently wrestling with a home design dilemma pertinent to this 
> subject. I like a shed roof high toward the sun, with a row of 
> clerestory windows above the south greenhouse-porch. Using optimal 
> roof angle to capture November-February heat, even with the 
> intelligent one-room house depth, perhaps 24 feet maximum, and 
> beginning at seven feet height at the north wall, such a roof creates 
> a very high ceiling at the south part of the interior. This is a space 
> waste and, perhaps more importantly, represents a huge amount of cubic 
> feet that need to be heated and cooled beyond what good solar, shade 
> and insulation design provides. One partial solution I am exploring is 
> having a loft library-office up there. So, to the matter of access. 
> Elevators are too expensive. Stairs take up a lot of space and are 
> dangerous if the mind wanders, even if made one-person wide and with 
> overkill on the handrails. Both stairs and a heavy library ladder are 
> problematical to aged joints. What is the solution?
tvoivozhd---too bad past years postings didn't make it into the 
archives.  I posted a long tirade about  interior stairway cost and 
waste of expensive space, and my love of a hexagon eyrie with 360 
degrees of window as an office or place  to soak in beautiful views.  
With this prompting, you will probably remember what I consider an 
ideal  solution----bring the corner of the roof down to ground level, 
put steps on top to ascend to the eyrie.  You will still need two 
handrails, but the ascent will be a much shallower angle than any normal 
interior staircase--something you arachnids should appreciate. If it was 
in Aspen, I would roof it over. In the unlikely event I were to build a 
new house today, I would have to add a couple rails and an electric  
cable-car---plus because of our unreliable electric utility, a mamual  
winch to over-ride the electric one.  That's a new thought---no extra 
charge, even for the aged-joint contingent