My "notoriously dangerous" and "recipe for disaster" comments came, in part, from first-hand experience. When I was a young teen-ager we lived in Germany in the top floor apartment of a house that had a staircase with a "sprial-section" near the top. That is, the staircase made a 90 degree turn about 3ft from the top. But, instead of a landing, there was a section of steps (maybe 5 or 6 steps total) that had treads like a spiral staircase. This staircase was indoors and about 36 inches wide and it had a good handrail. But, in the first couple of months that we lived there every single member of my family, from my youngest brother who was then 4 up through my older brother who was 16 and including Mom and Dad who were in their late 30s, took at least one or two spills down that staircase. We learned to hate it with a passion. Even when hanging onto the handrail, it was extremely easy to lose your footing because your left foot had a narrower spot on the tread to land than your right foot. Being careful didn't matter. All it took was one tiny split second of inattention or a tiny damp spot due to a little snow having been left behind by the last person to come up the stairs - and down you would go. Fortunately we were all young and in good physical condition so, for the most part, our injuries were limited to bruised gluteuses and various pulled muscles. And, because the staircase straightened out to a normal straight staircase after the curve, when you fell you tended to come to a rest as soon as the treads went back to normal. I don't think any of us ever fell all the way down the entire length of the staircase. Still, I remember feeling like I had just yanked my arm out of its socket one time when I fell despite the fact that I was holding onto the handrail at the time. Worst however was that right before Chrismas, Mom slipped while carrying laundry downstair and she severely bruised her coccyx. She spent Christmas in the hospital doped to the gills to combat her pain and then most of the next several month in severe pain everytime she stood up. And, Mom continued to have occasional pain in her tailbone for the rest of her life. Right after Mom fell, Dad built a wooden contraption that he firmly affixed to the wall at the top of the steps so that effective blocked off about 1/3 rd of the narrow tread edge of the staircase till you got down past the spiral portion. Dad's contraption looked downright ugly and the landlord was not at all happy with the way it ruined the look of the building OR the fact that Dad had nailed it to the wall! (Landlord lived in the ground floor apartment and I remember his outrage when he came home and saw Dad's contraption.) However Dad convinced him that either that contraption stayed right where it was until our lease was up or Landlord was going to be facing a major lawsuit for Mom's injuries. It stayed and no one else had any major falls. But, as soon as our lease was up, we moved even though the place we moved to was much smaller, and not nearly as nice overall - just to get away from that d---ed staircase. **** I didn't even know such things existed but tho they are certainly not as "pretty" looking as a spiral staircase, I would definitely choose that alternating tread stair that Mighty pointed out over a spiral stair. If your lower deck isn't wide enough for you to use one that goes straight from lower deck to roof deck, maybe you could use two smaller ones instead. Build a landing midway between roof and lower deck. Then set the lower alternating tread stair at right angles to the upper one. With a good railing system around the two open sides of the landing, even IF someone falls while coming down from the roof, they would only fall as far as the landing. But, it kind of looks like even if one loses their footing on these, they would basically fall in a "standing" position which would at least reduce the possibility of a broken or bruised tailbone. Seriously, I do hope you'll think really long and hard about not going with a spiral staircase. But, whatever you choose to do, I wish you all the best. And I do love the idea of the green roof garden. Hope you'll post pictures of that when you get it in.

The best way to find out is to go to your local building department and ask your inspector. S/he will make the final call in any event, but will also be the most knowledgable with respect to the local code requirements.

A Sherwin Williams employee told me that he really does not recommend their semi-gloss. The house will be painted in a satin finish, and I wanted the semi-gloss on the trim. Our painters have no problem using the Benjamin Moore paint, and I thought it would be a good product since we are located near the ocean. Thanks for your suggestion. I could have Benjamin Moore color match the most commonly used white that goes with Sea Salt. However, now I am leaning toward BM Super White. Have you used Sea Salt with white in your consulting business? If so, what would you recommend? Thanks for any help.

Eagle painting. i.am in Michigan. what is your painting advise for colors???