Hey everyone! I'm not a woodworker, but my husband dabbles in it. I've got a bit of a tricky question for him that he couldn't quite figure out, so I thought I'd reach out to the community. I'm working with blind children who need to learn how to navigate stairs, particularly the steps of a school bus. The challenge is that the heights of these bus steps can vary quite a bit: the top two steps range from 7 to 10 inches, while the larger bottom step can be anywhere from 10 to 16 inches high, depending on the bus. Unfortunately, we don't have access to the school buses during the day for practice, so I'm hoping to create an adjustable set of stairs that can be modified according to the actual dimensions of the bus steps. Is this even possible? If so, how would one go about doing it?
3 Answers
You could make a set of boxes in different heights with locating dowels to keep them secured. This way, you can create steps to fit any height just by swapping boxes. The only downside is that you might need up to a dozen boxes for all configurations!
Definitely! One idea is to create a slanted box frame that has dado slots every inch. You can then slide in solid stair treads at the level you need. Just slide the tread out and move it to a different slot for height adjustments. This design would mimic a bus stair and be sturdy enough for kids under 100 pounds. If you want extra strength, add another board beneath the treads going in opposite directions.
If you could draw that up, a sketch would be super helpful!
That sounds like a solid plan!
I initially thought about building just a few different stair heights, but from a liability standpoint, you might want to reconsider making them. If a child gets hurt on homemade equipment, you could be held liable, especially if it's not code compliant.
That’s something we definitely thought about. Just trying to assess our options!
Absolutely right! One misstep could lead to serious consequences.
We thought about that too, but 12 boxes could get tricky to manage!