“Staircase trivia? That’s a thing?” Well… when it’s your business to know everything about stairs, you discover a few interesting facts along the way! Here are a few things to think about next time you walk up your stairs…

1. In castles, spiral staircases always travel clockwise. This was done to aid the defence of the building, however that was not all they did. In addition to the direction, each individual stair was created in a different width. The theory was, that the defenders of the castle would be able to navigate the slightly wider stairs, whereas the attackers would slip after misjudging their step.
2. Ever noticed you get short of breath climbing the stairs? Well, climbing stairs is widely considered to be a vigorous exercise. It is viewed as a fantastic way of raising your heart rate and getting the blood pumping around your body. In fact, repeatedly climbing stairs burns more calories per minute than jogging! Who knew?!
3. According to the Guinness Book of World Records:
   • The greatest number of stairs climbed in a headstand is 36.
   • The most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling a football (kick ups) is 4,698.
   • Most consecutive stairs climbed while balancing another person on ones’ head, upside down is 90.
4. One of the world’s most famous staircases is the Grand Staircase in the Titanic. It spanned six decks and was a lavish, ornately styled staircase with beautiful wood paneling and wrought iron balustrades.  No doubt it took many months of detailed craftsmanship without all the modern machinery available to stair manufacturers today!  Though even today, such a masterpiece would still take a while...
5. The Great Wall of China has a total of 5,164 steps along its marathon length 42km. If we are talking good workouts, this would definitely fit the bill!
6. And a Stylecraft fact? Although we do not have exact numbers on how many stairs we have made over the company’s lifetime, if we make a conservative estimate of at least 30,000 – then you could walk around the world on a Stylecraft stair almost four times without stepping on the same stair twice – or get halfway to the moon!

So... building a castle? Looking for a good way to exercise? Been wondering your entire life how many stairs the Great Wall of China has?

Well… maybe not, but now you know!