Skip to content
Stairs Calc

Landing

A flat platform that breaks a flight or changes its direction.

A landing is a flat platform that interrupts a run of stairs — to let you rest, to turn a corner, or to satisfy code on a tall flight. The IRC requires a landing at least as deep as the stair is wide (minimum 36 in / 914 mm) and limits the vertical rise between landings to 12 ft (3658 mm) before one is mandatory. Example: a 16 ft floor-to-floor rise must be split, so you might place a landing halfway and size two flights of equal risers. Landings also anchor a direction change in L-shaped and U-shaped stairs. A door swinging onto a landing must not reduce its required depth.

Try the calculator Stairs with Landing Calculator

Related terms

L-shaped stairs A staircase with a 90° turn, made with a quarter landing or winders. Winder A wedge-shaped tread that turns a staircase without a flat landing. Total run The horizontal distance the whole flight covers, floor to floor. Number of risers How many equal steps the flight has; total rise divided by target riser, rounded. Half-landing A full-width landing where a stair reverses 180° in a U-shaped flight.

Stair calculators

Use this term in a calculator

Stairs with Landing Calculator Break a tall staircase into two safe flights with a landing — Stairs Calc splits the rise, sizes each flight, and checks the maximum rise between landings.
All stair terms

Written by the Stairs Calc editorial team. Methodology and code references: see our methodology.

Built and maintained by builders, drafters and engineers who plan stairs for a living — every code limit is transcribed from the published standard and cited to its exact section.

Last reviewed 2026-06-20 against IRC 2021/2024

Stairs Calc gives accurate geometry and checks it against published building-code limits, but results are estimates for planning. Codes are adopted and amended locally and change over time. Always confirm dimensions against your local adopted code and a licensed professional before you build.