For a multi-story mini storage building, what elevator, stairwell, and corridor design choices matter most for customer convenience and code compliance?
Confirm your unit mix, stair and elevator locations prior to ordering your building. Convenient access points are key to your storage success and keeping your customers happy. Being able to move customers' items from their vehicles into their secured unit efficiently is the goal. Add additional parking spaces near the entrance or add a covered entry way to protect from elements from the weather.
Steel mini storage building kits that stack units on two or three floors rise or fall on elevator, stairwell, and corridor choices. Your self-storage building unit mix and second-floor rents only work if customers move fast. Start with a larger sized elevator: a 10′-by-12′ cab (3,000 lb) freight/ADA model gives renters enough room for a 10′ sofa or pallet and meets ASME A17.1.
Place it near the main entrance with an 5-8′ clear loading zone and pair front-and-rear doors so customers roll straight through without turning carts.
Stairwells keep egress safe and code-legal. The 2024 IBC could require for two enclosed, 1-hour rated stairs serving every floor; each needs 44″ clear width, 7″ risers, 11″ treads, and panic-hardware doors that discharge to grade. Position one beside the elevator for convenience and the other at the far corner. Corridors are the daily user experience.
The same rules apply whether you’re stacking a 30×100 mini storage building or an 80×100 mini storage kit. Allow 5′-0″ clear width (6′ where climate-controlled storage building kits use opposing swing doors) so two hand trucks can pass., and separate corridors from storage units with a 1-hour fire wall. Bright LED strips, slip-resistant epoxy, and a 1% slope for drainage improve comfort.
TruSteel supplies location-specific stamped building and foundation plans, hallway systems with doors, and elevator framing—bolt-up parts that make code approval and install fast.