Skip to Content

Minecraft Stairs


Dec value: Wooden: 53 Cobblestone: 67 Brick: 108 Stone brick: 109 Nether brick: 114
Hex value: Wooden: 35 Cobblestone: 43 Brick: 6C Stone brick: 6D Nether brick: 72
Minimum tool requirement to break: Wooden version: None; Other: Wooden pickaxe; Blast resistance: Wooden version: 15; Other: 30
Maximum stack 64
Transparency: Yes

Stairs allow a player to go up or down a block without having to jump, making the transition between elevations much smoother. There are 5 types of stairs, stone brick, brick, nether brick, cobblestone, and wood. Wooden stairs can be created with all 4 colored planks in any combination, none of them will have any effect on the outcome, however.

Stairs are created by placing 6 of the corresponding blocks in a stair shape in a crafting table. 4 stairs are created per 6 blocks. Besides crafting them, cobblestone stairs can be found in villages, as well as inside Strongholds. Wooden stairs can also be found in villages, used as furniture and rooftops. Nether brick stairs can be found inside Nether fortresses.

Stairs can be placed upside down by clicking the bottom of another block. This is often used to mimic supports at edges of rooftops or cliffs, or just to smooth out an overhang.

Properties of Stairs

Stairs are more compact than slabs, allowing for more elevation change with fewer blocks, but you cannot sprint on stairs, which you can on slabs. Like slabs and glass, placing stairs on chests will still allow you to open them. Red stone circuits can also pass through stairs and the lower part of stairs will not block power currents going down when the corner of the stairs touches the corner of the block with Redstone.

Uses

Stairs are one of the most versatile blocks when it comes to decorating, mostly due to their shape, allowing for rounder and smoother structures. But they also offer some more surprising decoration possibilities. Besides their obvious use as stairs, many different types of roofs can be created using stairs, sometimes in combination with slabs and/or normal blocks.

Many players use stairs in various ways to create many different pieces of furniture. We’ve covered a lot of them in a separate guide, right here. Mixing cobblestone stairs with (cobble)stone slabs and stone stairs can give the impression of broken stairs and roofs, something which looks especially good in abandoned villages and dungeons.

(Cobblestone) steps are sometimes used to resemble rubble piles, though it’s often a bit tricky to make them look good. Though steps in combination with normal blocks often make for good-looking, half-destroyed walls.

Similar to the slabs safe door, stairs can be arranged with the lower parts touching, to create a safe door only players can go through, as mobs will consider those blocks as 1 block high. You will need to make sure the space between the stairs is 2 blocks high, you cannot sneak through a 1.5 block high gap.

Placing a row of upside-down stairs on top of a row of normal stairs creates Greek/Roman themed columns, perfect for temples and other structures. The hole created by surrounding stair blocks with other blocks can be used as a spying hole, but arrows cannot be shot through this hole.

Upside downstairs are sometimes used for the bottom side of boats, ships, and other floating or flying vehicles. Arranging stairs and upside-down stairs in the right way can create shelves, windows, and counters. Placing stairs one block above a furnace makes for a great extractor hood.

Crafting Recipes