I live in a coach house style flat (above 3 garages), one thing that’s always annoyed me is accessing the garage/garden. I have to go out through my front door and into the garage via the up-and-over door, I can also only get to my garden through the garage. This means I rarely actually bother and when I do it’s a pain as I really need to shut the up and over door from the inside (so I can relax in the garden without worrying about someone going into my garage).

Entering my property through the front door you go up stairs to the side of my garage, which also extends under the stairs. There’s no room for an internal door to the garage by my front door so I’m now thinking about a solution whereby I can lift up 8-10 stairs and go through to the garage that way.

Sort of like this (but probably not motorised):

I’m having trouble finding anyone that does this though (admittedly I only started googling this morning…).

These people do a mini version https://www.smartspacestairs.co.uk/ which seems very cheap at £180 (I’d be OK up to about £1500), have emailed them to ask if they could do an 8-10 step lift version (obviously needing beefed up struts) and to open from both sides.

Just wondering if anyone had any other ideas, thinking a decent carpenter could probably sort something but I don’t know any to ask. Also wondering about building regs, would I need a fire-resistant door under the stairs or anything? Might be worth a door (vertical) under there anyway to help with insulation a bit.

If you’re not motorising it, you’ll need some kind of massive spring assist or a counterweight and a bit of design nous to work that out.

Could you not put an additional external door and steel fire escape type stair up in a not too unsightly area?

I did think about a door out upstairs and spiral metal staircase outside at one point but it would take up 1/3 of the decking area (garden’s not massive as it is) and also not sure how it could avoid blocking the door out from the garage (possibly a more conventional staircase could but that would take up even more usable space in the garden.

I also assume it would be many thousands of pounds (knocking through external wall, installing a decent door and putting in the external staircase).

Fireman’s pole.

Or how about an access door in the main garage door? Would require a replacement garage door but might work? Be easier than the up and over door

Like this
https://www.garagedoorsonline.co.uk/garage-doors-with-pedestrian-access

There’s no room for an internal door to the garage by my front door so I’m now thinking about a solution whereby I can lift up 8-10 stairs and go through to the garage that way.

So to save you the inconvenience of – going down stairs, out front door, close front door, open garage door, close garage door – you are thinking: going down stairs, turn around, lift/tilt your stair case, open door into garage, close door into garage… and then to go back up stairs open door from garage, go under tilted stairs, tilt stairs back down, go up stairs. And you think you’ll use the garden more like this?

I don’t know but I suspect you will run into a building regs problem. When you go in the back garden, the stairs will be in the up position. Anyone upstairs is then trapped in the house. It doesn’t matter if you live along, building regs work on the assumption you get visitors. On top of any work you do with the tilting stairs having to be compliant, you’ll be knocking a hole in a probably structural garage wall, and the door between the house and the garage will need to be the relevant fire standard (the regs assume garages are used for storing cars and burst into flames!).

Presumably you mainly want to use the garden when the weather is OK. In that case going out front door and through a pedestrian access in the up-and-over door would seem simpler, probably cheaper and fairly conventional when you come to sell it.

Water slide?

It might be easier to make your stairs more compact by introducing a landing and 90 degree turn near the top, that might allow you to move the base of the stairs forward so there is room at the base of the stairs for an internal fire door to the garage.

So to save you the inconvenience of – going down stairs, out front door, close front door, open garage door, close garage door – you are thinking: going down stairs, turn around, lift/tilt your stair case, open door into garage, close door into garage… and then to go back up stairs open door from garage, go under tilted stairs, tilt stairs back down, go up stairs. And you think you’ll use the garden more like this?

More like: go down stairs, lift gas-assisted stairs (balanced so the stairs just close under their own weight), through new internal garage door, through door into garden. I don’t need to close new internal door or external door to garden behind me. On the way back I just push the stairs up from the inside.

When you go in the back garden, the stairs will be in the up position. Anyone upstairs is then trapped in the house

As above, hoping to have the so the stairs naturally close under their own weight (and then possibly a magnetic catch just to stop and chance of them pinging up unless pushed from the other side)? But fair point if that mechanism failed it would be a bit awkward for anyone upstairs (not too bad, just start putting weight on the lifted stairs bit but probably not easy/risk-free enough to satisfy a safety inspection if one was required).

It might be easier to make your stairs more compact by introducing a landing and 90 degree turn near the top, that might allow you to move the base of the stairs forward so there is room at the base of the stairs for an internal fire door to the garage

Interesting suggestion but can’t really do it with the room layout, the stairs go straight up into my living room, would need to lose part of the living room to have stairs coming into it at 90 degrees (and can’t really move the sofa as would be needed to do that 🙁 ).

Like this
https://www.garagedoorsonline.co.uk/garage-doors-with-pedestrian-access

Hmm this might work well, will give it some thought, cheers