Dog-leg (stairs)

Note: A Dog-Leg staircase and Quarter-Turn staircase are similar but different things. Currently there is no article for Quarter-Turn and Dog-leg stairs had Quarter-Turn's information.

A Quarter-Turn is a configuration of stairs between two floors of a building, often a domestic building, in which a flight of stairs ascends to a quarter-landing before turning at a right angle and continuing upwards.^[1] The flights do not have to be equal in length.^[2] A dog-leg contrasts with a quarter-turn in that after the landing it turns 180-degree turn to go back up the next set of stairs.

Dog-leg stairs can but not necessarily have an open-well stair which encircles an empty space in the middle of the stairs. But Quarter-turn stairs do.^[2]

Structurally, the flights of a dog-leg stair are usually supported by the half-landing, which spans the adjoining flank walls. It is called a "half or quarter" based on how much of turn you must make out of a 360-degree circle.^[3]

From the design point of view, the main advantages of a quarter-turn and dog-leg stair are:

• To allow an arrangement that occupies a shorter, though wider, floor area than a straight flight, and so is more compact.^[2] Even though the landings consume more total floor space, there is no large single dimension.
• The upper floor is not directly visible from the bottom of the stairs, thereby providing more privacy.

As with any stairs, when a quarter-turn or dog-leg stairway will be used by young children, elderly people, or disabled people, the handrail should be continuous throughout the entire area, including on the landing.^[2] However, depending on the other design elements, it may be difficult to provide an aesthetically pleasing and uninterrupted handrail on both sides of these types of stairs.^[2]