When stairs don't have to comply with code

let's talk building code i want to share with you guys a change in the 2021 international residential code and what this change does is it clarifies which stairs and ramps must comply with the provisions of the irc because this is something that's been long inconsistent across the jurisdictions in this country so what came out of this change is that stairs to crawl spaces and stairs to uninhabitable addicts do not have to comply but that's not the nature of this video this video is about the next set of stairs that it addresses stairs that are landscaped stairs the ones out in the yard away from the house not serving anything except the yard so i want to show you guys a clip from my on-demand course at buildingcodecollege.com that goes over that specific change in this code here we go chapter 3 of the irc provides about three pages of provisions on stairway and handrail design and it all starts right here with 311.7 which does have some important changes in the 2021 irc and now makes it clear that all stairways have to comply with code whether they're required as part of the required means of egress or whether they're just bonus stairs that just were built because and then the first exception to the stairs that have to comply makes it really clear that porch and deck stairs do have to comply stairways serving porches and decks i should say granted most folks already interpreted the irc this way and so the other thing that this really makes clear is that if you have landscape steps like these stairways like these and they're not directly serving decks patios or building then they're exempt from code provisions so i think this is an interesting photo right only these stairs here stairway right serving the dis detached deck only they have to comply with code now looking at this photo there is a path right up this stairway and all the way up to the patio and then all the way up to the deck and this is the only stairway serving the deck because remember what is a stairway right it's an uninterrupted a continuous and uninterrupted passage from one level to the other level got it okay now let me take you on a little personal tour around my own house here in colorado and what i want to do is show you how difficult it can be to try to differentiate between all these different walking surfaces outside of our homes and whether they're serving something whether it's a deck whether it's a patio and just what should really be required to be compliant to the code so as i walk up to the front of my house from the sidewalk on the street i have one two three four rises that lead up to my front door four rises right so that's one two three and then there's the fourth and are these landings or treads well they're 30 inches of tread depth so these are not landings so that means a four riser stairway that would require a handrail but does this serve the deck there's probably eight feet of path prior to that and then another step now we're at the stairs that serve the deck and now is where our code compliance comes into place now instead of taking the stairs over there perhaps i walk up my driveway this is now a concrete walking surface what differentiates this from a patio what differentiates this from a ramp this ramp or driveway comes right up and serves the deck now i've lived here 20 years on this driveway it's not unusual it's a driveway just like any other driveways in my neighborhood but if we come down and we look at the slope we are gonna find i don't have enough hands to show you and hold the phone but what the slope is is it's one in eight just slightly over a one and eight slope now one in eight slope ramp is an exception to the ramp one in 12 ramp that's required when you're serving the required egress door so this is tricky i have a one in eight ramp driveway that serves a deck that serves the required egress door so do i need to put a handrail to meet that exception adjacent this driveway or should the driveway be an exception let's talk about it all right so clearly i've got a little bit of maintenance and things to do in my front yard right have fun roasting me on that guys but now i'm going to take you out the back door and let's see what's happening in my backyard now if i come out my backyard this deck is directly serving my house now i'm going to take one step down to my yard but hey that was a change in elevation does that step need to comply with maximum riser height now i'm walking across my yard to a detached flagstone patio and a future fire pit someday and as i walk under my tree and come around the old picnic table towards the gate that leads to the creek and open space behind my house hey look flags on stairs one two risers yeah that's the real glenn i didn't spend the weekend cleaning up my backyard before making this video because you know what it's about real american life so there's a real american front and backyard with all kinds of stair and ramp features and patios and decks both adjacent to house not adjacent to house and so i think it gives a good prompt for discussion does the 2021 irc address this correctly should it be changed proposals for the 2024 irc are due this january 2022 and this is a brand new change to the code that i was involved with and supported but it doesn't mean that it's right and that it's the best minimum standard to present to all governments across this country so i welcome your conversations on this i would love to see what you think about which of these exterior landscape hardscape type stairs and ramps driveways hmm what do you think let's talk about it together

Channel: Glenn Mathewson

Views: 193

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: mfe31E86duI

Length: 7min 38sec (458 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 26 2021