The Livable House 



twelve to thirteen inches is wide enough for the treads of steps 

 indoors, and seven inches not too high for risers; outside the 

 treads should be broadened and the heights of risers lessened if an 

 agreeable effect is to be obtained. A tread fifteen inches wide 

 used in conjunction with a six-inch-high riser is a very comfort- 

 able allowance; a higher riser is apt to result in a steep looking 

 flight of steps. Treads wider than fifteen inches should, 

 of course, be used with risers less than six inches, following a 

 general rule that the product of the height of the riser and the 

 width of tread in inches should be about ninety; the smaller prod- 

 uct of seventy-two is adopted for indoor work. 



Breadth is also very essential to the comfortable appearance 

 of steps. This should vary with the extent of the wall in which 

 the steps occur and the difiference in levels, or the length of the 

 flight. No rule can be given by which such breadth may be de- 

 termined, because it is a matter which feeling for good design 

 alone can dictate; but it is safe to say that no steps should be 

 made too narrow for two people to walk abreast (which would 

 establish a minimum width of four feet), nor so large as to over- 

 power the garden to which they lead. 



The wing walls, necessitated by steps which project to any 

 extent beyond a wall, are often the means of spoiling the appear- 

 ance of the steps. Generally speaking these walls should be kept 

 as inconspicuous as possible, for it is easy to make them clumsy 

 and heavy. Good architectural treatment of course may turn 

 them into truly decorative features, but in any case the angle or 

 pocket formed by a projecting flight of steps is awkward^and it 



[4^] 



