Splashway Waterpark, Sheridan, TXNo job is too big. From start to finish, Stairways Inc is hands-on. Splashway Water Park in Sheridan, Texas (off I-10 between Houston and San Antonio, south of Columbus on Hwy 90-A) approached us last fall. They were looking for a way to get their customers up 40' to a waterslide. Their main concern was safety. Unlike most spiral stairs, this stair has the potential to be fully loaded. Strength being another major concern, we built this spiral stair using a 12", schedule 40 center column. The column being the structure of a spiral stair, this size gave us the ability to weld steps with the capacity to support a person on every step. The majority of the people that will be using this stair will be children; therefore, rail safety was another major concern. Our customer flew to New Orleans to visit one of 18 stairs that we built for the levy rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Our design for the water park stair consisted of a single outside rail at 36" high. The stair in New Orleans used a guardrail at 42" and a grab rail at 36" and the inside rail was attached at the center column. Upon their return, they agreed this was a better system. Even though this was a more expense project, they decided that this was a safer system and it was added to their stair. Making only one change, we made the guardrail 54" instead of 42", making the rail much more difficult for someone to climb over. The steps were another concern. Rubber, Wood, and Bolted overlays were all considered. The final choice was checker plate. The steps were cut from 3/16" plate and bent size-proportionate for the necessary weight requirements. This being a good material for this application, it was welded at the center column connection at both the top and the bottom. The steps that were galvanized with the stair will last in the wet environment of a water park. A lot of thought went into connecting this stair at both the top and bottom. The bottom is connected with a 1" thick by 22" diameter plate. Round plate was used instead of square to prevent corners to bump bare feet on. The top was designed with the help of Bludau Fabrication. At the landing, a frame was made using 6" channel. This was important, not only to support the weight of the users but for the connection from the stair to the structure. Hank Novak had the idea of using slotted holes to simplify the bolted connection. On both sides of the landing we made a 60" high guardrail. Once again, hard to climb over. The stair was built and delivered in one section. It weighed over 7800 lbs. The coating is galvanized. Not many galvanizers can handle a part this size. After a local company re-worked their galvanizing vat, they were no longer able to accommodate a stair of this width. The owner of our company located Sabre Galvanizing in Alvarado, Texas, just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. This was our first time to work with this company - but a quality outfit. The stair was coated in a timely manner with a great finish. We highly recommend them. Once back at our plant, we offloaded and inspected the stair and setup delivery. On a Monday afternoon, the truck arrived. It took us about two hours to load the stair onto the truck and secure it for the ride. About 11 a.m. the next day, I received an email from Hank Novak, with Splashway Water Park, informing us that the stair had been installed - it took us longer to load it onto the truck. In this bad economic time we are not seeing the bigger jobs that we have grown accustom to. It was great to be a part of a project that challenged our abilities. Working for good people encourages you to work hard. It was no effort working for Hank Novak and his family at Splashway Water Park. We wish them a very successful future. 
Stairways, Inc. |