Building Codes for Decks

In case you are thinking of getting a deck built or building it yourself, you wouldn't want to be in the bad books of the law, even though it is just a deck, right? What I am alluding to are the rules and regulations for building a deck within home construction. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you would be happy to know that there are some norms and codes for building a deck! Typically these requirements are universal standards, based on the common materials used for building the decks across the globe. Here is more on building codes for decks.

Code for Building Decks

There are regulations right from the quality of the pressure treated wood (if used) to the railing of the deck and if it is composite decking. Take a look at all the major building codes regarding deck building.

Building Codes - Deck Railings
Basic building codes for deck railings entail that if the surface of the deck is 30 inches to 5 feet 10 inches above the ground, then a 36 inch railing is a must. On the other hand if the surface of the deck is 5 feet 10 inches or more above the ground, the railing has to measure 42 inch to the least. In addition to this, the codes for decks regarding guard rails say that -

1. A guard rail should be able to bear a concentrated horizontal load of about 200 lbs along the rail.
2. Concentrated horizontal load of about 200 lbs over a 1sq ft area on any part of the rail.
3. A simultaneous vertical load of about 100 lbs and a horizontal load of about 50 lbs across, again along the rail.

These will be important when you are looking at how to install deck railing.

Building Codes - Treads
The building codes for residential and commercial deck stair treads have different standards. The norms for residential stairs allow the stairs to have narrower treads and can be steeper. To begin with, the treads have to be minimum 9 and ¼ inch in width. If the treads are used in tandem with stringers, they have to be at least 1 inch thick.

Building Codes - Stringers and Deck Stairways
Building codes for decks include width specifications - the deck stairway has to be at least 35 inches between wall faces or a protruding hand rail or even a guardrail. Another issue within this is the unit rise and unit run. Unit rise and run refers to the entire vertical and horizontal change between each stair tread but it is not the actual tread size. The maximum permitted unit rise is 7 ¾ inches and the minimum unit run is 8 ¼ inches. In addition to that norms entail that there cannot be any more than 3/8 inch difference between any rises, though they should always be equal.

As far as stringers are concerned, here are some of the main norms.

1. 1.5" thick (2x material) at least, if there are no supports along its length.
2. 1" thick minimum when supported along its length.
3. 3.5" minimum effective depth size (the narrowest part after cutting all the rise and run notches) 9 ¼" width - 2x10 at the most.
4. Stringers cannot have direct contact with the ground till treated with wood preservative.

Apart from all these, stringers have to be properly secured at the top and bottom and there has to be a maximum of 36 inches space between stringers with open rises and 48 inch space to the maximum between the stringers with closed rises.

Well, there are some more aspects in building codes for deck protection like stair rails, foundation, the hand rails, glass panels, if any and some more. However, considering your individual requirements, you can keep some codes aside. Before doing that, you need to make sure you know which building codes can be kept aside. For that, eventually you have to be crystal clear about the building regulations. That's it! All the best!