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Guide to Safe & Legal Porch & Deck Stair Construction InspectAPedia®  -     Deck & Porch Construction Materials Choices Deck & Porch Construction & Structural Fasteners Deck & Porch Construction Details for Safety Deck & Porch Railings, Code Requirements, Safety Finishes for Exterior Decks Poor Construction Details and Improper Connections Can Lead to Dangerous Collapse of Decks and Porches

Here we discuss critical safe-construction details for decks and porches, including avoiding deck or porch collapse and unsafe deck stairs and railings. This article includes excerpts or adaptations from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss, courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Also see our review of that book.

© Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, Steve Bliss, Wiley & Sons, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Guide to Proper Construction of Deck & Porch Steps or Stairs

The stair at above left was tall and wobbly and received this unique reinforcement. Tall stairways are safer and more comfortable with an intermediate landing. The need to add support at mid-span on this stair could have been avoided and the handrailings would have been more secure if the vertical railing post at mid span in the stair had been brought to ground leveland secured to a pier. See Stairway landings for details.

The stair at above right was built by the website author and had to cope with a sloped entry point at the lowest step and an interrupted railing to permit access from the uphill side of a drive.

This horrible deck entry stair has nothing nice about it: tall, uneven riser height, over-cut flimsy stair stringer, no railings, steep rise, narrow treads, no tread nose. This stair was a serious trip hazard needed to be replaced. The open railings on the deck (photo upper left) are a child hazard and form another indication of construction by someone not familiar with safe deck and stair construction and unfamiliar with building codes. We concluded that it was unlikely that this deck and stair had been built with a building permit and building inspections. Readers should see STAIRS & RAILINGS for details about the inspection and documentation of unsafe or defective steps, stairs, and railings, see Stair dimensions: width, height, etc. for details about stair tread and riser specifications, and also see Exterior stairs for examples of other stairs that are trip and fall hazards. And as we explain at Wood Floor Damage, we like to place our wooden deck stair treads with the "bark side" up - which you can determine by lookning a the curves shown in the end grain of the deck treads after they have been cut.

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Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

EXTERIORS of BUILDINGS
STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS
ADVANCED INSPECTION METHODS
AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
BEST CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES GUIDE
CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS REPAIR
Cracks, Checking or Splitting Beams & Log Homes
CRAWL SPACES
DECK & PORCH CONSTRUCTION
  Deck Piers & Posts
  Deck & Porch Connections to Building
  Deck Flashing at Building
  Deck & Porch Structural Fasteners
  Deck & Porch Steps or Stairs
  Deck & Porch Railings
DECK COLLAPSE Case Study
DECK FLASHING LEAKS, ROT Case Study
DEFINITIONS of Mobile Home, Doublewide, Modular, Panelized
DEW POINT CALCULATION for WALLS
DEW POINT TABLE - CONDENSATION POINT GUIDE
DISASTER BUILDING INSPECTION & REPAIR SAFEY
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED FOUNDATIONS
ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
FLOODS IN BUILDINGS-priorities
FOUNDATION BULGE or LEAN MEASUREMENTS
FOUNDATION CRACKS & DAMAGE GUIDE
FOUNDATION WATERPROOFING
FRAMING DAMAGE, INSPECTION, REPAIR
FRAMING DETAILS for BETTER INSULATION
FRAMING DETAILS for DOUBLE WALL HOUSES
FRT PLYWOOD
LOG HOME GUIDE
PANELIZED CONSTRUCTION & KIT HOMES
MODULAR HOME CONSTRUCTION
MOBILE HOMES, DOUBLEWIDES, TRAILERS
MOISTURE CONTROL in BUILDINGS
ROOFING INSPECTION & REPAIR
ROT, FUNGUS, TERMITES
  TERMITE SHIELDS vs TERMITICIDE
ROT, TIMBER FRAME
SINK HOLES

• Steven Bliss served as editorial director and co-publisher of The Journal of Light Construction for 16 years and previously as building technology editor for Progressive Builder and Solar Age magazines. He worked in the building trades as a carpenter and design/build contractor for more than ten years and holds a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Excerpts from his recent book, Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, Wiley (November 18, 2005) ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, appear throughout this website, with permission and courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Best Practices Guide is available from the publisher, J. Wiley & Sons, and also at Amazon.com.

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
• Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, Hardcover: 320 pages, available from Wiley.com and also at Amazon.com. See our book review of this publication.
• Manual for the Inspection of Residential Wood Decks and Balconies, by Cheryl Anderson, Frank Woeste (Forest Products Society), & Joseph Loferski, October 2003, ISBN-13: 978-1892529343, $39.00 at Amazon.com or at the InspectAPediaBookstore
• ...

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