Have you ever tripped while going up or down stairs and thought, “Ugh, that wasn’t my fault! That was the fault of whoever horribly designed these stairs!” Probably not right? At least when I fall going up or down stairs, I know the only explanation is my clumsiness. That’s because designing stairs requires a high level of precision and ability, but there are somehow people out there brave enough to design stairs when they clearly have no idea what they're doing. We’ve gathered some of the internet’s worst stair design fails down below for you to marvel at (and count your blessings if you live on the first floor of your building). Be sure to upvote all of your favorite stairwell atrocities, and then if you're looking for even more epic stair fails, check out Bored Panda's last publications on the same topic here and here.
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"Why This Place So Empty?"
To Make The City More Inclusive
May I Present To You: The Weird Stairs At My House (I Never Actually Realized How Weird This Are Since I Lived With Them All My Life)
This Stairway Has A Surprise Step
My University Has A Stair Case To Classroom 9 And 3/4
This Staircase
These Super Visible Stairs
If Boss Says To Build Stairs, I Build Stairs
Somewhere In Australia, Maybe
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee its wheelchair safe aswell
Infamous House In My Hometown. Yes, Those Are Stairs In Front Of The Garage
Walked Up This, Then Had To Turn Around Because Of These Useless Railings
This Is So Going To Make People Break Their Bones
It doesn't bother me half as much as the stripes not aligning on the left!
This “Disabled Friendly” Ramp
Architectural Masterpiece
Got Funky While Building My First Staircase
This Fancy Staircase Leads Directly Into A Wall
Just When You Thought You Were Reaching 1 Kcal
What Was The Point Of This Again
Finnish Architecture
Stairs In The Basement Of A Princeton University Dorm
Why Use A Ladder Just Take The Stairs
Thank You So Much For Making This Handicap Ramp, I Am So Glad This Building Is Wheelchair Accessible
If you look closely, there's an image of a ghost that died using it.
Found This On My College Campus. The Walkway/Stairs Above Are Still Open Too
A Friend Of Mine, In The Picture, Designed And Built These Stairs. Beautiful, But Frightening When You're Going Down The Stairs
This Staircase I Have To Go Up And Down At Work Everyday. No, That's Not Forced Perspective. It Really Is That Steep
A Lovely Chicago Apartment Bathroom
$4900 a month, elegant Victorian bath with real stained wood cabinetry, grand staircase leads into bath, *feel like a Mermaid Princess!!* Electricity/water/internet/parking/HOA/tax/ugly fee not included. Must replace that whack a*s wallpaper at own expense upon moving in.
Stairs To More Stairs
I Have No Idea What Floor I'm On
I believe those are saying the stairs are connecting floors 3 to 5 and 5 to 6. Therefore, OP is on level 5. No clue what happened to 4
I’ve Tripped In The Kitchen But Never On My Way To The Kitchen
Just In Case You Fall In The Wall
This Is The View Going Down A Set Of Stairs At My Workplace
Nearly Broke My Ankle At The Bottom Of These Steps
The More I Look At This House, The Worse It Gets
Inconsistent Rise And Run Of Stairs
First Step Of Stairs Is Cut To Allow Doors To Open
If You Like Wall Climbing, These Stairs Are For You
An Apartment In London That Has No Front Door. Just A Set Of Stairs Leading Up To A Window
These Stairs In London
Ha! Queens Walk in London Bridge tube station! It's a b***h when it's wet and you're wearing smooth sole shoes
It Is Like This In Minecraft When You Miscalculate And You Are Left With This. Expect This Is At My Friend's House. You Have To Duck Down Half Way Up The Stairs
There's a line in the ceiling parallell to the railing which seems to indicate that someone closed off part of the stairwell at some point and didn't quite think it through. smh.
I Didn't Understand Why I Keep Stumbling When Going Up, Then I Took A Closer Look At The Stairs
Striped Carpet On Hotel Stairs. Hard To Use Even After Two Weeks And Completely Sober
Very Safe Stairs
These Stairs Look Sharp
Fish Scale Stairs At My Grandma's
Because Having Two Staircases In The Bathroom Is Better Than One. Toilet Is Behind The Wall On The Left
Judging by what we have already seen, this is probably listed a "wheelchair friendly".
Stairs Retrofitted Into Old House Are A Death Trap
Staircase To Nowhere
The Disabled Parking At My School
My Sister's Staircase
The Stairs In An Airbnb I Stayed In Where Every Step Is A Different Height, Width And Depth
Came Across This Gem. So Apparently Homes Are Now Being Sold With Built-In Stairmasters 4300’s. You Can Even Charge Your Phone While You Break A Sweat
Enjoy Your Trip Up, Down, Or Over These Steps
Stair Blocks My Cabinet
This Useless Staircase I Found In The Wild
Big Steps In A Toilet Cubicle In A Mall. Safe To Say I Fell As I Was Walking To The Door After Turning To Flush
Weird Stairs
Not Sure If This Is Better
Wheelchair Service Reception, Up A Flight Of Stairs
My Mom's House Has A Complete Dip In The Floor (I Can't Tell You How Many Times I've Tripped)
The Deeper I Go, The Dumber The Architecture Becomes
Three Staircases
Set Of Stairs In A House I Was In Today
The Stairs At The Bottom Of This Doorway, What Happened Here
University Stairway Leads Halfway Into Hand Rail
Bad design but without that extra bit I think wheelchair users might miss the turn and go straight down the stairs.
Mario Stairs
What A Stair
The Stairs In My School Lead To Nothing
My Friend's Stairway To His Bedroom
Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse. Let Me Introduce You To These Lovely Stairs In Tallinn, Estonia
Crazy Or Just Plain Bad?
Fire Exit Stair-Does This Belong Here?
Death Stairs Or Something
Thanks For The Stairs (On Both Sides Of The Bridge)
Stairs At Work Got An Upgrade
I Have Never Been So Nervous Walking Down The Stairs. Ireland
Deathtrap Of The Day
At least there are hand rails, though they do rather disconcertingly look like disabled canes.
Weirdest Stairs To Climb
What On God's Green Earth Is This Abomination ?
If people think this is attractive they're wrong. It's just stupid.
How Do We Get The Couch Up?
More Stairs To Make You Dizzy
These Stairs At The Hospital Require Extra Focus
Hmmm Ahh Yes
They are for pushchairs and prams. The person walks down the steps while the wheels go on the ramps. We had them on my walk to school years ago.
Something’s Not Quite Right
This Escalator Fails To Go All The Way
This Semi-Diagonal Staircases
Not Sure If I Was In An Optical Illusion Exhibition Or In The Bathroom Of A Pub Built In 1242
Yep, the Bear Inn in Oxford, England. Not the oldest pub in England though. The oldest one is built into caves hollowed out of a cliff.
This Wheelchair Ramp In A Local Pharmacy
This Bike Ramp
I Was Looking To Buy A House, When I Suddenly Found This Abomination
This Hotel Room's Entrance
The Staircase At The Milwaukee Public Museum
This Half-Eaten Post On My Staircase
This Staircase To A Building
This Strap Will Hold This Stair Up Alright
These Stairs
This Staircase That Goes Nowhere
This Staircase That Doesn't Properly Touch The Ground
Steep Stairs To The Attic Of My Family's House
They Wedged The Wobbly Top Stair In Place
These Stairs In My Hotel Room
These Stairs Leading To The Registan In Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Whoever Designed These Stairs Needs To Be Fired Immediately
This "Spiral Stairwell" In My Cousin's House
Stairs Passing Through The Corner Of A Room
The Top Set Of Stairs (Ladderwell) Blocks Half Of The Bottom Set Of Stairs
These Steps Were So Steep I Had To Walk Down Them Like It Was A Ladder (A Rental Cabin Somewhere In Gatlinburg, Tennessee)
This Is To Help People Get Down The Stairs Safely
Those tracks are for pushing a bicycle up the stairs. Makes sense due to the double bike lane at the bottom.
Three categories: retrofits to divide the abundant space differently, affecting the design; retrofits for ADA compliance, affecting the design; a-holes grossly ignoring building code. Only one of these is a bad thing.
I had to stop halfway through because these pictures made me physically uneasy. o___O Too many fever dreams here.
These are the most frighteningly dangerous stairs and non-accessible/murderous ramps. Anything remotely like these should be fined thousands of dollars, ripped out and built safely. All steps should have proper rails, I've hears way too many horror stories that ended with a person being severely crippled.
Three categories: retrofits to divide the abundant space differently, affecting the design; retrofits for ADA compliance, affecting the design; a-holes grossly ignoring building code. Only one of these is a bad thing.
I had to stop halfway through because these pictures made me physically uneasy. o___O Too many fever dreams here.
These are the most frighteningly dangerous stairs and non-accessible/murderous ramps. Anything remotely like these should be fined thousands of dollars, ripped out and built safely. All steps should have proper rails, I've hears way too many horror stories that ended with a person being severely crippled.
