Staircases explained:

Balusters - The guard-rail along the exposed edge of a landing - normally forming an extension to the banister.
Banister - The handrails down the side of a stairway.
Curtail step - The bottom step of a staircase where it projects sideways and curves around like a 'cur's tail'.
Fascia - The vertical board under the edge of an exposed landing.
Finial - A turned or carved ornament usually in the shape of an urn, ball, bun, spike or figure, often used to decorate the ends of staircase newel posts.
Half Landing - The flat area of flooring where a stairway makes a turn between floors.
Inner (closed) string - The side of a stairway locating the treads and risers which is set against a wall.
Landing - The flat area of flooring at the top and bottom of a stairway leading to rooms.
Newel post - The vertical post at the turn or end of a banister.
Outer (open) string - The side of a stairway locating the treads and risers which is open to view.
Return nosing - The moulding applied to the ends of the treads where there are exposed in a hallway.
Riser - The vertical part of a step.
Riser wedge - The, normally wooden, wedges used vertically underneath a staircase to secure the risers to the stingers.
Tread - The horizontal part of a step.
Tread wedge - The, normally wooden, wedges used horizontal underneath a staircase to secure the treads to the stingers.
Tread/riser blocks - The, normally wooden, blocks used to secure the top of the risers to the front of the treads along the front edge of steps

This is a visually stunning concept created by ourselves at Hythe Joinery.

The idea put to us by our client who left it to us to design the cantilevered stairs in teak combining it with the low iron glass balustrade and gallery walkway. You can see that the combination of hardwood and glass creates an open and stylish look.

Design drawings created by our in house design team headed up by Spencer Cork brought this to life for our client long before we installed on site.

These pictures show a cantilevered staircase with 20mm low iron toughened glass. The stairs and glass balustrade supported from the wall only. The introduction of the glass bridge gives depth and light to the lower rooms.

The stair treads are Burmese Teak with inset 4mm stainless steel base and up stand supported from a mild steel wall string, sample pattern available for viewing.

The stairs feature a glass wall balustrade, supported from the bottom only, with 25mm gap between walls.

The stair handrail is inset flush into the wall, with integral lighting with vertical flush lighting on every other stair tread.

Maida vale, London December 2008