Railings in Spruce Grove: The History of Stairs

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Your Home, Your Railings, Your Safety

June 19, 2016

When it comes to your safety, precaution mitigates hazards. That’s the foremost point of railing. We want your home to be completely safe and easy to navigate. On top of that, we strive to provide beauty in our railing builds. It’s the integration of crucial safety and premium beauty that makes railings and banisters from Dave’s Railings the best on the market.

Your Safety

As adults, stairs aren’t even considered an obstacle. In fact, we might not even notice them as we pass from space to space. For children, animals, handicapped individuals, and elderly folks, stairs aren’t so simple.

Children, especially young children, don’t understand how hazardous balconies and stairs can be. That’s why there are child-protection barriers on the market to keep tykes from going anywhere near stairs. Once your kiddo is old enough, they’ll rely on stair railings to keep them safe, but it’s still important to be cautious and to warn your child of the dangers of playing on the stairs. Balcony banisters are especially crucial to maintain safety in your home.

Animals behave just about the same as young children. You can keep your young animals penned up and off of the stairs. Again, balcony banisters will also keep your animals from making a harmful leap from floor to floor of your home.

Stair railings may also be essential for those who’re handicapped or temporarily injured. Railings may provide necessary support for those with foot, leg, and hip injuries. Of course, more extreme injuries may require implementation of a different mode of transportation other than the simple stair.

As we age, joints and muscles don’t cooperate as they should. Railings provide support when our knees are too shaky or our hips hurt. Railings keep you safe and maintain your freedom of transportation throughout your home.

The Beauty of Your Home

Here at Dave’s Railings, we’re all about function as well as beauty. That’s why we provide a wide array of materials and designs for our railing options. Choose from custom crafted wood components to sleek, clean glass components or intricate metal components. Regardless of your choice, your home’s sure to look it’s best.

Give us a call if you’re curious about our railings and the designs we can implement in your home. We strive to integrate our designs seamlessly with the home itself, and we can work with you to pick the perfect railing to meet your desires. Also, you can l earn more about our railing materials here.

Stairs as a Religious Symbol

The first granite staircase was created in China around 50 B.C., as a way for travelers to reach the sacred mountain of Tai Shan. Before the granite stairs were built, a rudimentary ladder helped people reach Tai Shan’s summit. The ladder climb was held more spiritual value than practical value—according to Confucius, the stair climb was a symbol of an ascension to reach a “divine height” and to achieve a connection between the earth and the sky—and the granite stairs that replaced the ladder achieved the same metaphorical purpose. There are many other metaphorical ladders and stairs in the religious realm, including the Jacob’s ladder from the Christian bible, the tower of Babel, the stairs at the pyramids of Egypt, and the celestial ladder of Shantung in China.

Stairs and Military Strategy

Spiral staircases that wrap around castle towers weren’t just for aesthetic value—they had strategic military value as well. During battles, spiral staircases (which almost always spin counterclockwise) often favored those defending the castle. In a one-on-one skirmish between swordsmen, the defender would always have higher ground than the attacker—and because most swordsmen were trained to use their right hand to fight, the attack would end up hitting their sword against the castle wall, unable to get a solid strike on the defender. The attacker’s head would always end up at the defender’s sword swinging level, and the lack of stair rails would allow the defender to easily push the attacker off the stairs and down to his almost certain death below. Who knew stairs could play such a role in swordplay?

Stairs Today

In today’s modern world, staircases take on a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. There are a growing number of stunning helical (spiral) staircases, like in the Vatican Museum in Rome or I.M Pei’s space-age helical wonder in the Louvre, dog-leg staircases like the one at the Paris Opera, and unbelievably complex staircases like the Schlossberg stairs in Austria or the Chand Baori in India. Even escalators are an amazing example of stair innovation, and they’re used virtually everywhere except Wyoming.

Of course, the most useful stairs are the ones in your own home—and unless you’re planning on winning some swordfights in the near future, every great staircase needs beautiful and durable stair rails.

That’s where Dave’s Railings can help. With over 10 years of experience in the world of stair rails, we’re happy to help you find stair rails that meet your style demands, your safety requirements, and your budget. Get started with Dave’s Railings today!