Residential Staircase Regulations

The usable surface of the stair tread must be a minimum of 26 inches in width measuring from the center of the staircase to the outer handrail.

Residential staircase regulations. Every staircase needs one handrail. Spiral or helical staircase regulations. While the finer details will ultimately be influenced by your local government s building regulations the international building code the international residential code and the standards set by the americans with disabilities act of 1990 maintain that exterior stairs that are a required point of egress in other words stairs that must be crossed on your way in and out of the building must have handrails. Maximum 4 1 2 inch handrail projection into stairway width on either side.

So this basically sums up the basic code requirements for residential stairs and their dimensions. And as such handrails are an important part of any staircase design. Australian standards for stairs and handrails outline that staircases need handrails on all exposed sides unless there s a fixed structure within 10cm of the stairway. To comply with the regulations the minimum going should be 220mm whilst the pitch of the staircase should not exceed 42.

The following staircase code requirements pertain to straight run stairs. Part k of the building regulations provides the guidelines for ensuring occupants or visitors to a house are protected against falling collision or impact. Therefore let us recap on the residential stair code requirements. 36 inches minimum staircase width refers to the side to side distance if you were walking up or down the stairs.

One of the main concerns of building regulations is the health and safety of those dwelling in a property. Some of the key code regulations for stairs serving habitable rooms are. You must have a minimum of 2000mm of head room and this has to be constant through the entire staircase. Living rooms kitchens and external stairs and one for stairs servicing non habitable rooms such as attics and storerooms which are not used on a daily basis.

There are two regulations covered by the ncc one for stairs serving habitable rooms ie. Homebuilding renovating there are no restrictions when it comes to width but standard flights measure 860mm and for a main staircase it is agreed that a width of between 800mm and 900mm works best. The clear walking path on a particular staircase. Staircase being one of the most vital means of escape from building in case of fire so better to know the fire safety regulations for staircase.

Winding stairs and spiral stairs have several different code requirements. The rules within part k don t apply to spiral or helical staircase designs. Stairways wider than 1 metre need a handrail on both sides.