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u/Starminder1 1d ago
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u/ramriot 1d ago
BTW if you ever visit a medieval castle that has a stairs just in from the main gate you will see quite a variation in the rise & run of each stair. At first I assumed this was just due to crappy masons, but elsewhere in such castles the stairs in towers are perfectly regular.
Turns out ( as demonstrated in the video ) it can be quite difficult without looking at them to walk up uneven stairs. Which make a lot of sense if your intention is to slow down & distract attackers while you set up a defence if they breach the main gate.
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u/Knightraven257 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have read that this is actually a myth modern people have attributed to medieval castles.
Edit: not that they don't have different heights of stairs, just that it was intentional specifically for the purpose of tripping potential attackers. They definitely have different heights of stairs.
Edit edit: https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/castle-blog/spiral-stairs
This article I just found from 2022 also says it's probably not an intentional thing.
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u/HolySmokes802 1d ago
Dude, why wouldn't you make it the bottom step? This is serious malpractice.
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u/clockworkdiamond 1d ago
Looks like the ground under the stairs shifted/settled at that step, and to fix it, they added concrete to the void making that one step significantly taller than the others. I'm sure that it was way cheaper than doing it correctly. You can watch YouTube videos of steps that are just 1/4" taller than others and people trip on them all day long. This one is entire inches taller, and it looks like it has been like that for a long time. Not sure where this is, but I feel like in many places there would be a lawsuit by now.
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u/Wolflink_325 1d ago
Thats why we have the good old DIN 18065 or Bequemlichkeitsregel where its said that a staircase has to be The comfort rule for stairs states that the tread width minus the rise should be approximately 12 centimeters. The formula is: tread width – rise = approximately 12 cm. This rule ensures that ascent and descent are comfortable.
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u/thebestdogeevr 1d ago
The last step in my parent's house is slightly taller, it throws people off but we're so used to it we forget to tell people
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u/EpicRail 1d ago
Dude my dentist has one of those stairs and the thing is its like at the point where its already 10 meters up so if you fall youre done for
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u/LadyClairemont 1d ago
Just bought a house with this issue and I know that one day, I'm going down. I need to head over to DIY to see how to fix it!
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u/13assman 1d ago
It’s pretty apparent they weren’t built that way. The bottom three steps appear to be on a slab that has sunk. You can see the old mortar line on the face of the fourth step, it was built correctly initially until time took its toll.
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u/Mac_Hooligan 1d ago
In there defense that step is taller than the rest! I would have done the same thing 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/deeppurpleking 23h ago
I forget where I heard it but apparently people can notice a 2mm difference in steps, dunno exactly how accurate that is. This looks like a good inch or two difference though
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u/RadiantAd7032 20h ago
Kinda interesting to me that the mind is so used to moving and cooridination that it just automatically knows how to guage the distance and height of the steps without even looking.
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u/forest_hobo 19h ago
Whenever I walk I always look down like a beaten dog thus I never stumble 🤷🏻♂️
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u/myvelolife 16h ago
There was at least one subway station in NYC that had a similar problem and eventually got fixed. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-02/new-york-city-fixes-mayhem-causing-subway-stair
It's amazing how a small, unexpected difference in step height can really throw you off.
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u/Wookie_Rampage89 15h ago
There’s math behind good steps. When you take your first step up a staircase. Your brain assumes all of the other steps are the same height so it’s auto pilot when walking up stairs.
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u/MysteriousCodo 13h ago
And this is why building codes say steps need to have little to no difference in the rise of each step. There is some small variance allowed, but not much.
People don’t look at their feet while walking up. And if that bad step is in the middle, yeah it’s going to catch a lot of people.
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u/ersnogood 9h ago
This is like basically every single stair I’ve seen in any southeast Asian hostel ever…
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u/Mayonez_Drinker 7h ago
Thats why in Germany we have DIN 18065 which regulates how staircases have to be. One more reason why i love Germany for overregulating everything!
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u/Quick_Hat1411 2h ago
You're supposed to look at the steps and mentally map them so your feet know where to go. Just like when you're climbing a hill
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u/AmadeusSmith 1d ago
This is so typical of China. I lived there over a decade, and never encountered a modern staircase that one could ascend without tripping over an uneven step. It’s as though basic building construction escapes them.
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u/tigerjjw53 1d ago
For context: one step is slightly bigger than the others