ᐅ Connection between Concrete Staircase and Steel Beam – Alternatives to Expansion Joint, Experiences?

Hello dear forum,

We are building with a developer from Lampertheim and are surprised by the following situation.

We have a basement and a concrete staircase. The staircase was installed with the last step (below screed level) set on the ground slab of the ground floor. Now that construction has progressed and the topic of floor coverings came up, we were told that we are fully responsible for leveling the stairs. The problem is that our hallway flooring would not be uniformly tiled, or the grout pattern would be interrupted by a necessary expansion joint (matching the size of the basement stair riser). We really want to avoid this because it would ruin the entire grout pattern in the entrance area.

Are there options, for example using an uncoupling membrane, to avoid this expansion joint between the staircase and the screed?

I uploaded a few pictures for clarification.

I apologize in advance for the imprecise description but hope our problem is understandable. We also hope that someone in the forum can share some useful experience on this.

PS: The step that extends into the hallway was not shown on our construction plans. When the step became visible in the shell construction, we assumed it would be covered by the screed (we are complete laypeople and lack experience).

Many thanks in advance!

Sonneneck schrieb:

We are building with a developer from Lampertheim and are surprised by the following situation.
We have a basement and a concrete staircase. The staircase was installed with the last step (below screed height) placed on the ground slab of the ground floor. Now that construction has progressed and flooring is being discussed, we were told that we are fully responsible for leveling the stairs. The problem is that our hallway will not be tiled uniformly, and the grout pattern would be interrupted by a required expansion joint (the size of the basement stair riser). We definitely want to avoid this, as it would ruin the entire grout pattern in the entrance area.

You don’t really “build” with a developer but rather purchase from one. Building would usually be done with a general contractor, but in your case, you have a developer. Here, having a consistent grout pattern is not necessarily the highest priority. However, it is unusual that the buyer is responsible for the tiling (???). With the construction involving the stair’s transition onto a side landing at the ground floor, there is hardly an alternative solution. I would recommend tiling the top step continuing the surrounding grout pattern and installing the expansion joint in a subtly contrasting color. Maybe @KlaRa can offer some professional advice on this (?)

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