Stairs in your grooming shop

[TawnyKitty]

I was wondering how many people have stairs in there shop. I am looking a 2 different spaces. One space is slightly smaller with just like 3 stairs in the shop, but will cost so much more to vent and build out. The other one is larger with high ceilings, windows that open and a large room that can be my wash/drying and holding room. Unfortanatly there is about 6 stairs leading up to that room. This makes me nervous. Ugh!

If you have steps in your shop how do you deal with them? I was thinking of making a ramp up half of them because they are wide, but my husband seams to think it will take up space.

feed back please!

[alabamagroomer]

check with local laws

We have 2 step coming into our salon and since it is a business, we had very strict laws about having handicap acces. ramp at our expense. We had to hire someone to build it and it wasn't cheap. Call the city building inspector and they can shed some light...

Good luck!

[gluergirl]

Stairs in shop

I am home based and groom in my basement. I have 10 steps leading down to the room and have only had one issue with a large dog who would not go down the stairs. I am new to grooming, and do not have to many large dogs, thank goodness, but I am going to have to make some changes in the spring to make the stairs easier to use, add a separate entrance and make a change to the inside of the house to do it all.

You can manage with stairs, but I think it would save a lot of problems if you didn't have more than one or two!

Just my opinion,
Lisa
AKA: Gluergirl
or Little_Critters on egroomer pages

[groomingfool]

Years ago I used to work in a salon on the second floor of a converted home dwelling, with retail and training on the ground floor. There was an indoor set of stairs that were wood covered with no slip strips, and an outdoor set in the dog run area that were wood with open backs that had a landing halfway up. There were single steps up into the holding room, and down into the salon. The biggest problems I saw were the older clients, whom I would meet on the ground floor, and the dogs that were afraid of stairs. There was one St Bernard in particular that my bather and I would have to pick up and carry up those back wooden stairs. UGH, what a nightmare. As my clientele and I age, I have found less stairs is better. They're all well and good in your early 30's but halfway through the 40's my knees ain't what they used to be. I suppose a ramp would be a good thing as long as the angle isn't too steep.