Staircase carcass

The structural member that supports the treads and risers.

The part of the stairway that is stepped on.

The individual going is the horizontal measurement from face of riser to face of riser

The vertical portion between each tread on the stair. This may be missing for an "open" stair effect.

The individual rise is the vertical measurement from top of tread to top of tread

The front part of the tread that protrudes over the riser, they actually overlap each other slightly.

The carcass is the main trunk of the staircase before any balustrade is installed, this is made up of stringer boards either side, treads & risers. This image shows a cross section through a typical staircase.

Staircase balustrade

A large post used to anchor the balustrade. A half-newel may be used where a railing ends in the wall. Visually, it looks like half the newel is embedded in the wall.

Handrails may be continuous (sometimes called over-the-post) or post-to-post (or more accurately "newel-to-newel"). For continuous handrails on long balconies, there may be multiple newels and tandem caps to cover the newels. At corners, there are quarter-turn caps. For post-to-post systems, the newels project above the handrails.

For 'closed' stairs without a 'cut string' where the baluster does not start at the treads, they go to a baserail.

A handrail for the bullnose curtailed step that is shaped like a spiral, volutes may be right or left-handed depending on which side of the stairs they occur when facing up the stairs.

The balustrade is a guard for staircase to ensure safe ascent. This is usually made up of 'newel posts' at the top & bottom of the stair run to anchor the handrail, the spindles then locate in grooves located in the handrail & baserail.