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Approved Document K, the 2013 edition, marked for use in England, sets out the rise and going for three categories of stair. For a private stair, which is the ordinary staircase inside a house, the rise is a minimum of 150mm and a maximum of 220mm and the going is a minimum of 220mm and a maximum of 300mm, with a maximum pitch of 42 degrees. It adds the relationship that ties the two together: twice the rise plus the going should come to between 550mm and 700mm. Every step in a flight should have the same rise and the same going, which is the rule a new covering most often breaks.

Three more figures matter when a covering is fitted. Headroom on the access between levels should be at least 2m, and in a loft conversion where that cannot be achieved the document allows a reduced arrangement of 1.8m at the centre of the stair width and 1.9m at the side. A handrail should be positioned with its top 900mm to 1000mm above the pitch line or the floor, and a handrail is needed on both sides where the stair is 1000mm or wider. In a dwelling, guarding is needed at the sides of flights and landings where there is a drop of more than 600mm, and the guarding height in a single family dwelling is 900mm for stairs, landings, ramps and the edges of internal floors.

Open risers are allowed in a dwelling, but conditionally: treads must overlap by a minimum of 16mm and the steps must be built so that a 100mm diameter sphere cannot pass through the open risers. A thick covering fitted to the treads of an open riser stair can close that overlap or open that gap, so it is worth raising before the material is chosen rather than after it is laid.

Scotland does not use the Approved Documents at all. The building standards technical handbook for domestic buildings dated April 2026, which applies to a building warrant submitted on or after 6 April 2026 and to work not needing a warrant started from that date, sets out its own table. A private stair, meaning a stair wholly within a dwelling, has a minimum rise of 100mm, a maximum rise of 220mm, a minimum going of 225mm and a maximum pitch of 42 degrees, and the handbook adds the same aggregate rule of between 550mm and 700mm for twice the rise plus the going. Any other stair, including a common stair in a block of flats, is held to a maximum rise of 170mm, a minimum going of 250mm and a maximum pitch of 34 degrees.

Scottish widths and flight lengths are stated as well. The effective width of a private stair should be 900mm, or 600mm where it serves only sanitary accommodation or a single room, and may be 800mm where a continuous handrail is fitted to both sides. A flight should generally have no more than 16 rises and at least 3. Handrails go to both sides of any flight with a change of level of more than 600mm, except that a private stair need only have one, and they are fixed at least 840mm and not more than 1.0m above the pitch line. Protective barriers are expected at the edge of any stair, landing or raised area with a difference in level of 600mm or more, must stop a 100mm sphere passing and must not be easy for a young child to climb.

Northern Ireland runs a third set again. Technical Booklet H of 2012, supporting the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, gives a private stair a minimum rise of 75mm, a maximum rise of 220mm and a minimum going of 220mm, with the pitch capped at 42 degrees and the same 550mm to 700mm aggregate. Its minimum unobstructed flight widths are 800mm for a private stair generally, 600mm where the stair serves only one room other than a kitchen or living room or serves a bathroom and water closet, and 1000mm for a common stair in a block of dwellings. Wales publishes its own Approved Document K on GOV.WALES, so a Welsh reader should work from that rather than from the England edition.

A competent fitter starts by measuring the flight rather than the room. They check whether every rise is the same, whether the treads are the same depth, whether the flight is square to the wall and whether the bottom step is a bullnose or a curtail that will need a separate template. Winders, the tapered treads on a quarter or half turn, are measured individually, because their going changes across the tread and each one is a different shape.

Then the old covering comes off and the substrate is dealt with. Loose treads are screwed, squeaks are traced to the joint between tread and riser and wedged or blocked from underneath where the staircase is accessible, and old gripper rods, nails and adhesive are removed rather than covered. This is the point at which the build-up is agreed: how much the new covering adds, whether the nosing profile will still project correctly, and whether the top and bottom steps need any adjustment so that the rises stay uniform.

Fixing is the part that decides how long it lasts. Whatever the material, the front edge has to be held down hard, because a nosing that lifts is both the first thing to wear out and the first thing to catch a foot. Carpet is stretched into the angle of every step and held on grippers top and bottom of each riser; timber and overlay pieces are bonded and mechanically fixed; vinyl is bonded with a formed or capped nosing. The flight is then checked underfoot from the top down, which is how a fitter finds the one tread that moves.

Stairs are priced per step, not by area, and the step count is only the start. What moves a quotation is the shape of the flight: a straight run of thirteen treads is a different job from the same thirteen treads split by a half landing or turned by three winders, and every winder is cut as a one-off. The condition of the existing flight matters as much, since squeaks, loose treads and old adhesive all have to be dealt with before anything new is laid. Then come the details: whether risers are covered as well as treads, whether a bullnose or curtail step needs a template, whether the balustrade has to be worked around or removed, what nosing section is used, and whether the old covering and its grippers are being taken away by the fitter.

LokalMatch is only the introduction. You describe the staircase once with your postcode, saying how many steps there are, whether there are winders or landings, what is on it now and what you want on it instead, and fitters covering your area contact you. Using LokalMatch costs a homeowner nothing, because the professionals pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not fit stair coverings, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anybody who replies, so comparing what each quotation actually includes, and checking insurance and references, is your part of the job.