Kevin Kalman chose to install a pre-engineered stair system from Port City Staircase in the Lifespan House. Port City designs a stair system to fit every budget. Utilizing innovations such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) routers enables Port City Staircase to design and construct staircases of exceptional quality and great precision. Jobs are priced right off the blueprints but every staircase is actually field measured to ensure a perfect fit.
The staircase built for the Lifespan House has risers that are 3/4" birch plywood and treads constructed of reclaimed heart of pine. Everything is fastened together with screws. A computer numeric controlled router was used to rout out the wall side of the staircase
Installing Stairs
The staircase is attached on top with some finish nails and then shimmed along the wall side with blocks that allow sheetrock to slide in behind the skirtboard.
From GC Kevin Kalman's perspective, the choice of Port City's pre-engineered staircase rather than a traditional built-in-place staircase saves both time and money. On a tight construction schedule Kevin finds eliminating the inconvenience of a guy building stairs on site for two to three weeks to be a tremendous advantage. With Port City, they come in and measure, build the stairs off-site, deliver the staircase, install it, and in four to five hours they are done and gone.
Finished Stairs
To protect the staircase during construction, they put temporary tread covers on.
Port City offers a variety of spindle and handrail options. Special species woods, wrought iron balustrades, and custom turnings are available. For the Lifespan House the Kalmans have chosen the Wilmington Profile Handrail in Honduras Mahogany with the "Ascension" 3/4 square top spindle.
LifeSpan House - 
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