Wooden Spiral Staircase
Experience Exchange:
Brothers make wooden spiral staircase for abandoned silo renovation
Worzalla Brothers share their custom-made spiral stairs milled on their portable sawmill
Two brothers haul massive wooden blocks on top of each other, spreading them out until they’ve roughed out the shape of their spiral staircase.
It’s one of the highlight moments of the project for the two, the Worzalla Brothers, Mitch and Jake, who are woodworkers, carpenters and run a construction company of the same name.
“One of the reasons why we want to do something really cool is because we have the machine to do it,” said Mitch, pointing out their Woodland Mills HM130MAX was key to cutting the materials for not only the wood spiral staircase, but also the timberframing they’ve done on their silo renovation project.
Before the wooden spiral staircase goes in
The Worzalla Brothers spoke with us and shared how they got into business, how they ended up doing such impressive projects and how their portable sawmill has been instrumental to it all.
But the solid wood spiral stairs weren’t the first thing installed in this silo project. The duo explain that the silo belongs to another brother, and they’ve been doing a complete top-to-bottom renovation of the entire structure, which was empty and abandoned when they first saw it.
They started by repairing the stonework to the aging structure, then they used their HM130MAX to start building it up. All of that timber work helps to add warmth to the space and brings out the beauty of the silo.
“We did all the original, old-school timberframe structure, all out of our own milled lumber, and then we just worked our way down and built a bunch of timbers up for the ladder chute. We did a timberframe entryway and that’s where the spiral staircase came into effect,” said Jake.
Some SOLID wood spiral stairs
Each spiral stair is made of a solid block of wood, milled on their portable sawmill, and then planed and hand-sanded by the brothers. All the heavy lumber came from their own property, and was painstakingly moved to the mill, and then from the mill to the silo by hand.
There was no professional design team for this wooden spiral staircase, the brothers took inspiration from other projects posted online and did the math to ensure the stairs were built well and could provide easy access to the second floor.
The stair treads were hand-finished with expert craftmanship, and once they were ready, the pair first blocked out the spiral staircase, “dry fitting it” by laying down the steps a few different times to ensure they had the right dimensions and spread between each step.
“It was a lot of hauling those things up and down and deciding what was the best position for them,” said Jake.
Once each component of the wooden spiral stairs was finalized, they placed them down and ran a long steel bolt through each step, acting as a center post for the stairs.
“It felt good when we slid the last one in and then we tapped on it, I think you jumped on it,” said Mitch to his brother. “And it fit perfectly.”
Advice for your own staircase
For anyone looking to make their own wood spiral staircases, the brothers say to plan appropriately.
“Make sure your numbers are right, double check your numbers,” says Mitch, with his brother adding you should always make sure you have more materials than you need.
You never know if the wood you set aside for a spiral stair ends up being rotten on the inside, so having a little extra ensures you’ll always have enough.
Whatever wood species you have on your property, be it maple, pine or any other timber type, as long as it's good to build with, should be fine. The brothers say they just used the trees they had access to to form their wood staircase.
Spiral staircases add so much charm to any house, barn or structure, though they do end up being challenging builds. While you could build one out of metal, if you have the room to create your own wooden spiral stairs, you may want to consider tackling this difficult project.
This custom staircase project has garnered millions of views for the Worzalla Brothers, putting a spotlight on the new woodworkers.
What’s next after the spiral staircase?
There is still work to do on the silo, the stairs still need a railing and there are other finishes which need to go in next, the brothers say.
But already their custom wood spiral staircase has become a showpiece, getting millions of views on social media and bringing them a lot of attention.
The brothers say they’ve gotten requests to do jobs all over, but they’ll probably stay where they are and continue to do unique jobs for friends and family.
And whatever projects they do next, they say they’ll have their HM130MAX there to help them. The pair used to salvage barnwood, but their new passion is to “do more with big timber,” and that’s where the mill comes into play.
The sawmill “opened up a new book of opportunities for us,” says Jake.
“After doing these, the roof, the spiral staircase-,” Jake added, with his brother Mitch noting, “there’s a lot of things we can try.”
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