Raiing Code

Laketahoedan

I know that railing now needs to be 42" to top of top cap.
What about railing going down stairs?

I suppose the grab rail still needs to be 34-38" but what about the top cap?

And is it ok if there is more than 4" from bottom of bottom rail to the inside corner of tread and riser?

ty

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andy builds

Depends on your local code/inspector... your better off checking with them, some areas don't update for years depending on where your at...

BuiltByMAC

Based on my code requirements in OR,
handrail height on stairs shall be not less than 30" and not more than 38" from nose of tread -
Handrail is defined as a graspable rail (this is your grab bar)

Guardrails shall have a height of not less than 36" (these are the regular handrail sections that can't have more than a 4" opening)

Triangular opening formed by the riser, tread and bottom rail of a guard to be of a size where a 6" sphere cannot pass through.

Now that I've said all that, as andy stated above, what's code for Tahoe? A call, or visit, to your city's planning and development dept. will clear up those location specific code questions for you...

Mac

mickeyco

Continuous?


.

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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

redwood

The requirements where I work in Ca. are the same as Mac's. Commercial railings need to be 42".

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Mark
Los Gatos, CA
www.creative-redwood-designs.com

BuiltByMAC

Yeah, I could go on and on and on..........

but I got bored and went to another thread!

Mac

mt_42

On a somewhat related note, has anyone every seen/built a railing without inner/corner posts? My neighbour just had a deck built around their pool and with the exception of the single posts on either side of the stairs, the rest of the railing (roughly 40 ft wrapping around 3 sides of the deck) is entirely supported by the 2x2 ballusters face nailed into the fascia boards/joists.

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Mike

thom

MT, I did one like that that looked really cool. It was just the stairs.

The stairs were "U" shaped stairs parallel to the balcony/deck, going up to a second story balcony., with 1-1/2" space between the upper and lower portions of the stair.

The 2X2's ran from 4" above grade to the top rail on the perimeter, from the lower stringer to the top rail on the center rail. There was a 2X4 screwed to the 2X2's at the ground level to keep them properly oriented.

It looked really nice, the owners loved it.

orionkf

Decks done by the builders around here seem to always be that way.

orson

I personaly consider that to be a substandard "builder grade" method of railing construction. There is no structural connection of the railing to the deck.

On a more practical note, how do you sweep the deck off?

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ChillaWatt

Hey Dan, you do any work for Squaw Valley? Love it up there. If you have a hard time contacting a local inspector the lumberyards in your area will usually know the local codes.

deckman22

Yeah, I see them all the time on redo jobs. Crappy/cheap way to do a deck rail imo. Makes for an easy demo job tho, ha.

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Deckman
www.alscustomdecks.com

BKFranks

http://www.arcways.com/pdfs/IRC2006.pdf

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DecksEtc

That's what I refer to as "builder's railings". When doing consultations, I tell potential customers that I flat out refuse to build those type of poor excuse for railings. As long as the baluster spacing is min. 4", they pass code. I can't understand why, but they do. Aside from all that, I think they look like crap.