Inaccessible space under stairs

I live in a split-level built in 1939. The basement is in two parts - part full size, mostly unfinished, part crawl space (about 4 feet ceiling height). The stairs are placed in a small u-shaped area with the furnace next to them. There is no access to the space under the stairs except by removing a step and crawling through. The space under the stairs provides access to the back of the furnace (the front is accessible in the main part of the basement). The walls around the space under the stairs are cement blocks, on the other side of which is the crawl space portion of the basement. While we rarely need to pull the step out, at times our furnace repairman does crawl under there to work. We are looking to finish the basement and would like the stairs to be more presentable. But we need to maintain some way to get at the space under the steps. Any ideas?? Relocating the staircase or the furnace is way outside our budget.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Not sure how feasible it is but I'm recalling The Munsters and the staircase they had that would lift open several stairs so you could access Grandpa's laboratory.

 

Hinging a portion of the steps or building them as roll-aways may be possible. Pictures would help.

Mitch, you are dating yourself, I barely remember the Munsters .

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

Bud

 

1313 Mockingbird Lane, baby

 

Here are some pictures

 

I'd go with some beefy hinges myself. Splitting (cutting) both stringers about 4 or 5 treads up from the bottom, and installing a mini-landing, vertical support system there will hold the top portion in place when the bottom is tipped up. Install blocking where you cut the stringers, to provide some purchase for the hinges, and an X-pattern inset brace, glued and screwed with blocking across the bottom should adequately stiffen up the movable portion of the stair run. The latter will be needed, as the treads themselves won't prevent flexing from taking place (and possibly folding like a parallelogram) when the thing is hoisted.

I'd move the furnace if it was my basement. If you have the necessary tin pre-made, I suspect the job could be done in a (long) day.