Dogleg Staircases

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Staircases that go round a corner or bend at 90 degrees are often called dogleg in the UK.

First, some numbers.

• One storey is 16 clicks of the terrain tool.
• The minimum section of stairs is 4 clicks.
• A block of terrain is 4 clicks high.
• One storey or one wall is 16 clicks high.

This walkthrough will show you how to make a dogleg staircase (Staircase with one bend)

• Level terrain.
• Raise a couple of tiles 4 clicks. Put a one-tile block of decking on top of one of these, where you want your stairs.
  
• Drop a stair section (8 steps) to the ground in front - in England it's usual for stairs to "face" the front of the house, so bring your lowest section of stair toward the mailbox.
• Now level the ground UNDER the decking. Yes, it works!
  
• Trade secret: Decking has a telescopic leg! It behaves slightly differently to the other foundations, as you see here. The leg actually extends down to the ground - wherever the ground is placed, while the top stays where it is. This is why it is important to use decking rather than the other types of foundation. This is a very powerful feature and well worth exploring.
• OK - you have now made the lower half of your dogleg. Make a one-tile "room" at a right angle to this, put on a floor tile and drop another section of stairs to the "platform" tile at the top of these stairs.
  • It helps to position the connecting stairs tool in the tile and then drag it very slightly in the direction you want the stairs to drop in, as you click. Be patient and use the Undo button until you get it right.
    
• Voilà one dogleg staircase. Different sets of connecting stairs give different effects - I have used the steel one as its lack of visible support makes it easier to see what is happening for tutorials, but all the connecting stairs will do for doglegs.

I find it easier to build the house around the staircase. Once the walls on the ground floor are "closed" around the staircase you will find it very hard to do anything with it. But you can put floor tiles under the staircase and build around it, including roofing over (though you may have to fiddle with the roof to get the game to accept it.)

Some tiles on the upper floor will be missing around the staircase; this forms a natural "stairwell" a little larger than we would have in real life. Also you will find you cannot build a wall right next to the stairs unless you use cheats which are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but this need not be a problem in most houses; dogleg staircases work best in medium to larger houses.