Continuous Stair Handrails Building Code Problems
By Greg Vanden Berge
I have had numerous problems with
local building inspectors and
building departments over the years about continuous stair handrailing.
When I first started in construction the stair handrail was basically a
guard rail
to keep people from falling off the staircase. Then the
building departments in some areas took it upon them selves to use the
handrail for something to hold on to as you are walking up and down the
stairs.
Well now in some cites the building department will require a
continuous handrail running the entire length of the stairway. This
however is now a national building code but is not always enforced. This
becomes confusing to your stair assembling carpenters that are told they
need to do it in one city but not the next. This is not a good thing for
the construction business in general.
While working as a carpenter framing stairs for track homes
doing my best to keep up with changes as they came along in the Unified
Building Code. I found this really didn't mean a whole heck of a lot ,
as I went from city to city listening to local building inspectors
interpretation of the U.B.C.
To this day I can not tell you for sure what one city wants in the
way of building a stair handrail system in your home. Now don't get me
wrong. If you build your set of stairs as per plans you could be
rebuilding them if the building inspector finds something wrong. Just
recently I told the owner builder of a home I was
framing not to forget
and ask the inspector about the continuous stair handrail. Would he need
to make it continuous and if so would if have to run past the last stair
treads 12 inches at the top and bottom of the stairway.
When I came back to build a handrail on the front and back porch I
noticed the stair handrail was installed . There was two problems with
the stair handrail. The first problem was the 37 inch tall stair
guard rail
which would have been fine 15 years ago but today in most
cities you need a 42 minimum stair guard rail
with a continuous gripable
handrail. This was the first problem the next of course was that the
inspector wanted a continuous gripable handrail.
You might ask why didn't the owner builder take my advice and ask the
building inspector. Why didn't the carpenter installing the stairs ask
the owner or find out about the local building codes. I don't know why
but I can tell you this much they had to remove the 37 inch handrail and
could not reuse the stair balusters because they where to short. The new
stair guard rail
had to be 42 inches minimum.
The moral to this story is it won't cost the building department any
money to rebuild your stair handrail system. So ask the building
inspector and if possible have the inspector sign the plans stating the
facts involved (no continuous stair handrail) . Get it in writing from
the building department as a good rule of thumb then you will have
something to argue with the local building department when the situation
arises.
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