Stairs play a major role in any building you would have never seen a house without any staircase. Vastu Shastra belief is something which holds its own importance especially in Indian architecture design.
The vastu of staircase plays a very important role as it is believed that energies filled with forces of life climb the stairs of a house and make their way throughout its internal structure.
Along with the height and elevation, the location and shape of stairs influence the flow of positive energies very strongly. Let us see some Vastu tips about location of the stairs and some tips about their shape as well.
Location of Staircase Based on Vastu
- The best location for stairs is considered to be in the south or south west or even North West direction, north east to be considered the worst as it leads to financial losses of the house or owner of the place. The direction of the staircase should always lead from north or east to south i.e. starting from north and ending to south.
- One should have keep in mind about the entry of the external staircase. The main door of the house should not face the entry of the staircase though it can be parallel to it.
- An internal staircase should not be placed in the centre of the house according to vastu it is considered to be a big fault as it can lead to stress and health related issues for the family. Also an internal staircase should not be visible from the front entry of the house as it creates bad energy flow in the house.
- According to vastu the staircase should always have odd number of risers and not even. There is one more trick that you can follow in making the risers is you can divide the number of risers by 3 and the remainder should be 2. For e.g. the number of riser is 23 which is an odd number also when 23 divided by 2 gives a remainder 3 which makes it verified. Though this formula might not always be applicable as height of the structure keeps on changing, but the number of risers should be odd number is a universal vastu
- Also always keep in mind to place a worship place or a bathroom under staircase as vastu considers it a very bad option of bringing stress in the family.
Staircase Shape and Its Vastu Principles
According to vastu your staircase should always go in the clockwise direction and not anticlockwise no matter what direction it is.
1. Vastu of Circular / Spiral Staircase
Even though spiral and circular staircases look beautiful inside your house but vastu considers it the worst type as it symbolizes irregular and unsafe movement. Also as mentioned the staircase should always lead to clockwise direction but while climbing circular staircase one may lose the sight of direction and it becomes unpredictable in some cases.
But if you are not considering vastu and you have a large area then you can definitely go for circular staircase or if you have really less space issues then go for spiral ones as they undoubtedly enhance the whole space.
2. Vastu of Straight Flight Staircase
These are the stairs which do not have any changes of direction in between. Sometimes for longer heights these are made with certain landing in between to break the flight and for rest.
Though straight flight stairs at home might not have to be necessarily built with landing but straight flight stairs in commercial areas should always have landing in between.
This stair is easy to build as it has only 2 structural supports and provides the easiest flow of movement.
3. Vastu of L-Shaped or Dog Legged staircase
These have a L- shaped supported on the wall on one side. These have a bend in some part of the stair. The bend is usually achieved by adding a landing at the transition point of staircase.Generally this bend is seen to be at 90 degrees.
This stair helps in privacy by creating a visual barrier between two floors, they saves space as well as they can be adjusted into the corner of the room as well.
4. Vastu of U-Shaped Staircase
These stairs are basically achieved by placing two parallel flights with a landing in between at a 180 degrees turn. These are easier to fit in any architecture plan. The landing acts as a resting point, though this staircase is quite difficult to build.
5. Vastu of Winder Staircase
This staircase is a variation of L-Shaped staircase only but instead of a plane flat and long landing they have a triangular or pie – shaped landing.
These are best type if you have less space or if you already have a grand stair at the main corner of the house you can use this in later parts of the house, visually these staircases look interesting and seamless.
This stair can sometimes be difficult to climb for older aged people due to loss of transition or navigation.
Colour of the Staircase - Based on Vastu
If you are considering vastu then ideally your staircase should not be colored dark as it brings negativity into the house. But if you are not considering vastu then you can use dark color on the external staircases which are more prone to dust and on lighter colors the dust is easily visible than darker colors .
For internal staircases you should always prefer lighter colors so that the stairs won’t dominate the other spaces like the color of the wall and furniture. Also you can choose the color in the same tone or family of you wall color as well. For e.g. if you have an off-white colored wall then you can choose the stair to be of crème or light brown color.
You can also play with colors in staircases like making a contrast between lighter and darker colors of tread and riser.
Additional Vastu Tip:
Never decorate your staircase wall with pictures of your family as according to vastu it creates differences in the family members and also harmful to their health. You can decorate your stair wall with random sceneries or arts and abstracts.
– Asmita Madan