Austin Metal Gates fabricates iron staircases in Austin, TX, and is Travis County's leading structural steel stair specialist, specializing in mono-stringer stairs, floating treads and spiral staircases. We offer wood treads and stone treads on steel.
Our team provides engineered stringer design, delivering a sculptural centerpiece for homes and hard-wearing access for both residential and commercial projects. We weld every stringer and tread plate in our own shop, working from drawings you sign off after we measure the floor-to-floor rise ourselves.
From the 26 inches of clear width a helical flight needs at its handrail to a full run with landings, guards and returns, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, West Lake Hills, Lakeway and Volente, we make the way between floors the piece of the house people remember.
Why Austin Metal Gates
No stock panels cut down to fit, and no handoffs. The crew that measures your opening builds and installs the gate.
Every staircase comes down to the same problem: carry people safely from one floor to the next inside the space the house allows. Steel gives more ways to solve it than wood framing does, because it can span farther, sit thinner and be shaped in the shop.
Most stairs rest on stringers, the structural members that carry the treads, usually one on each side and one in the middle. A mono-stringer design puts all of that work into a single steel spine running under the center of the treads, so the stair reads as one clean line with the treads balanced on it.
A floating stair has nothing visible underneath. The treads project from a wall like small cantilevers, fixed firmly at one end and free at the other, which means the load and the bending at that wall connection have to be designed, not assumed. Where the wall cannot take it, we hide the support in a steel stringer tight to the wall instead.
Two steel stringers with open risers give a lighter look than a closed stair. Open risers are permitted, but where the stair sits more than 30 inches above the floor below, the gap between treads may not pass a 4 inch sphere, so we size riser bars or tread overlap to suit.
For lofts, towers, rooftop decks and tight corners, a spiral stair fits where a straight run never could. The next section covers what the code allows.
What most people call a spiral staircase is, strictly, helical: a true spiral is a flat curve, while a stair climbs as it turns around its central pole, or newel. The payoff is compactness. Helical stairs fit very narrow spaces on a small footprint, which is why they turn up on ships and in homes where every square foot of floor is spoken for.
At least 26 inches of clear width at and below the handrail. A walkline radius no greater than 24 and 1/2 inches. Every tread at least 6 and 3/4 inches deep at the walkline, and all treads identical. A rise of no more than 9 and 1/2 inches per step. At least 6 feet 6 inches of headroom. Those figures are from the 2015 International Residential Code; we confirm the edition in force for your address when we quote. Building codes may also limit a helical stair to smaller areas or secondary use, so a spiral is usually the second way up to a loft or roof deck rather than the main stair of the house.
Kit helical stairs are bolted together from standard steps and handrails. Ours are drawn to your exact floor-to-floor height and opening, so the top tread lands where your floor is instead of where a catalog says it should be.
The steel is the structure; the treads are the part you see and stand on. We pair them deliberately.
White oak, walnut and other hardwoods give warmth against dark steel. Stone treads suit an entry or an outdoor stair and carry more weight, so the stringer and the tread supports are sized for them. Steel plate treads with a textured or wood-clad top work on exterior and utility stairs.
A standard stair in the 2015 residential code is at least 36 inches wide above the handrail, keeps at least 6 feet 8 inches of headroom, and rises no more than 147 inches in one flight before a landing. A landing is needed at the top and bottom, at least 36 inches deep on a straight run, and treads and landings may slope no more than 2 percent. Riser heights within a flight may vary by no more than 3/8 of an inch, which is why we measure the finished floor levels, not the subfloor.
An open-sided stair needs a guard at least 34 inches high measured from the tread nosings, and any flight with four or more risers needs a handrail. We build those as part of the same drawing so the rail and the stair are one design. Our iron railings page covers the grip and spacing rules in detail.
A staircase is structure, so it is designed before it is built. Our shop drawings show the stringer sections, plate sizes, weld locations, tread fixings and every connection to the floor above and below.
Where the stair design, the span or the plan reviewer calls for a licensed engineer's review, we bring one into the drawing stage before any steel is ordered. Floating treads and long mono-stringer spans are the usual cases, because the whole load passes through one connection.
Whether your staircase needs a building permit, and what the reviewer wants to see, depends on where you live and on the scope. We check the requirement for your address at quote time and prepare the drawings for the application.
An interior stair rarely concerns an HOA. An exterior stair to a deck, balcony or roof terrace changes what the house looks like, and in places such as The Hills and Lost Creek any exterior improvement goes to the architectural committee first. We supply elevations and finish samples for that submittal.
A staircase is priced from its drawing, and no two drawings match. We publish no figure; these are the drivers:
A free on-site measure is where your number comes from. We measure the opening and rise, talk through styles, and price the drawing.
We start at the house, measuring the finished floor levels, the stair opening and the walls or framing the stair will bear on. You then get shop drawings to review and approve. The stringers, tread plates and guards are cut and welded in our shop and finished before they arrive, and the crew that measured the job sets it, levels it and fixes the treads.
We build staircases across Austin and the Travis County communities around it, including West Lake Hills, Lakeway, Volente, Rollingwood, Sunset Valley, Barton Creek, Lost Creek, Shady Hollow, Steiner Ranch and The Hills. The houses here range from hillside homes with split levels on limestone to lake houses on Lake Travis and Lake Austin, and both tend to have the kind of vertical space a steel stair makes the most of.
The process
Four steps, and nothing is fabricated until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
We measure the opening, the slope and where power can reach, and talk through style, automation and access.
You get scaled drawings for your approval and for any HOA or city review, with one written price.
Steel is cut and welded to the approved drawings, then galvanized, powder coated or both.
Columns and posts set, gate hung, operator set up to UL 325 and every safety device tested with you.
Questions
It turns on the stair type, the floor-to-floor height, turns and landings, tread material, the structure needed and the finish. We price each staircase from a free on-site measure and a shop drawing, so the quote reflects your actual opening.
Often, yes, since that is what spiral stairs are for. The 2015 residential code asks for at least 26 inches of clear width at the handrail and 6 feet 6 inches of headroom, so we measure the opening and the head height first and tell you what diameter works.
Building codes can limit spiral stairs to smaller areas or secondary access. We check the rules for your address and your use before we draw one, and usually recommend a spiral as the second way up to a loft or roof deck.
Hardwoods such as white oak and walnut, stone, and steel plate. Stone is heavier, so the stringer and tread supports are sized for it on the drawing.
Floating treads put the whole load through one wall connection, so we bring in a licensed engineer where the design, the span or the plan reviewer calls for one. That happens at the drawing stage, before any steel is ordered.
That depends on your address and the scope. We check the requirement when we quote and prepare the drawings for the application if one is needed.
It depends on the design, any engineering or permit review, and the finish. You get a schedule with the quote, and fabrication begins once you approve the shop drawings.
Yes, every staircase we fabricate and install is covered by a written warranty, which we walk through with you when you approve the quote.
Free on-site measure across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
