This friend was very excited, especially by how much time he saved by not adding a railing. You could compare all the ADA, OSHA and IBC stair railing height requirements here.I went to a friend’s house a while back to admire his new deck. Handrails must be on both sides of the IBC stairs, and they must comply with these additional handrail requirements. Shown below, the guards are vertical balusters, but guards can also be pieces of glass, wire, etc. Any spacing in the guards must be less than 4 inches. The guard height must be at least 42 inches high, and it is measured vertically from the leading edges of the tread nosings or from the landing surface. Guards are required along all open-sided walking surfaces of the stairway, including landings and stairs.
If the stairs have nosings, you measure from the leading edge of the nosing to the edge of the next step’s nosing. The step height, also known as the riser height, must be no less than 4 inches and no greater than 7 inches. Riser Height and Tread Depth (IBC 1011.5) The clearance must continue past the last step for at least one stair tread depth. Stairways are required to have a headroom clearance of 80 inches from the edge of each stair nosing measured vertically up to the ceiling. Read More: Differences in IBC and OSHA Requirements Headroom (IBC 1011.3) You must calculate the IBC stair width for multi-story stairways versus single-story stairways. However, the very minimum width between handrails is 44 inches. In short, the width is calculated by multiplying the occupant load served by such stairs by a factor of 0.3 inch per occupant. The number of occupants on each floor will determine the required width of the stairs. The International Building Code (IBC) has many requirements for stairways, and you must also meet the required number of means of egress and areas of refuge for wheelchairs.