I have a 5' 7" retaining wall around my driveway that butts up to the house. It has a stair well area and currently no railing on the stairs or along the top of the wall.

I am wanting to rebuild the stairs and add a railing. I have found building codes that pertain to stairs but I have a couple questions.

1. I am going to build a T from two 2x4's for the top rail. This is not to codes for a inside stair run and would require an offset handle of less than 2-1/4" inside the top rail but I see all kinds of decks with stairs and none of them have the hand rail. Are there just that many decks not built to code or is there an exception to outside railings.

2. Do I have to put a overhang (nose) on the front edge of the stair tread or can it be flush to the riser? I am going to put open risers since they are outside if it makes a difference.

Is there anything I should worry about?

Thanks

No permit required? I'd give my city building inspector a call.

Commercial or Residential codes?

Residential

Good point. I didn't think I need a permit for this but I will look into it.

https://buildingcodetrainer.com/residential-stair-code/

Top and bottom handrail extensions. Commercial stairs definitely require them, but not 100% sure about residential projects,

https://www.wagnercompanies.com/wp-content/uploads/return-to-wall-300x291.jpg

I think the rule for a lot of this stuff is if you touch it it has to be brought up to code.

In my industry, all outdoor stages have stairs. I had one complaint years back regarding a pre teen performer who fell and was injured (scraped knee) ascending a set of stairs. So we inquired as to what happened, her first response was "I was running up the stairs and................"

Next.

Yeah well, not everyone who falls down stairs is at fault !!!

There is always a "by the book" answer and then there is a "get er done" answer. If you are going to sell the house in the near future you should do it by the book. That most likely means pulling a permit and getting the job inspected and following the most up to date rules for your city or county. The other option is to do what is safe and normal for a house the same age as yours. So if your house was built in the 70's then nail some 2x4s to some 4x4s and call it good. That is how they did it back then and it met code back then. If you ever sell the house it will probably pass inspection unless you are a complete hack of a carpenter. You should have a railing on a wall that is more than 5 feet tall, especially if it is in an area where people walk. You don't want your wife falling off of there some night when she is bringing groceries in from the car or some dumb neighbor kid riding his bike off of there and suing you.

I think the code around here is anything higher than 3 feet needs a railing and the railing has to be constructed so that a kid can't fall thru it. So the bars have to be 12 inches apart or something like that with supports every 8 feet. My dad built a deck around his house a few years back and had to modify it to meet code. My dad was the kind of guy who just built stuff without ever checking a code book or pulling a permit. In his mind he was still living on the ranch that he was born on back in the Depression when nobody cared about permits and such.

Check and see what local building codes want for it. You don't want to do one thing and find out it wasn't enough. Or over do and see that your original idea would have been good.

This is the correct answer!

A local Church was installing new hand rails on their new cement walkway and stairs 5 or 6 years ago. The contractor called the city to find their rules covering the railings.
The official word from the city (in printed form) stated that the contractor should install "proper hand railings." When again questioned about the rules describing a "proper hand railing." The written description was "You build what you feel is proper and if we disagree, we will have you replace it to meet our satisfaction."
I built a steel railing with a top rail with 1 1/4" wide channel iron, a bottom rail with 1 1/4" channel iron, and 1/2" solid square bars every 4" apart on center. At the each end of each section was a 1 1/2" square vertical tube tying the top and bottom rails together and were used to anchor the railing to the cement Each section was 8' long or less, each section was of the correct length so a part of each railing was uniform. Between the walkway and the stairs I made 172' of railing. Apparently the city was happy. All the railings that have been built since by other city public access look the same as the railing I built. Someone told me recently that now the lowest railing can't be over 4" off the surface level and the vertical spacing can't be more then 3" on center. Apparently OSHA has become involved with hand railing now. Gene

The way I was told is that a 4" diameter ball cannot fit under or between any of the horizontal/vertical slats. And in my case, for a deck, any distance in excess of 30" deck surface to ground required a railing. State of Minnesota if you care...........

They all use the IBC code so you just need to know what year they are using and then make sure you read thru the rules before you build.

4" sphere pass through has been in effect for over a decade, maybe two. Whether it's applicable to residential, I don't know, but I doubt it. The few houses I bid with steel in them all seem to comply with that but I think it's Architect ignorance. They've been trying to pass code compliance off to contractors and subcontractors for a very long time now. That's why I suggested he query his local building inspector.