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
Questions & answers about deck construction codes & specifications
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This article explains 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.
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 level and 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" down - which you can determine by looking a the curves shown in the end grain of the deck treads after they have been cut.
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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.
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