On Wed, 20 May 2009 20:53:12 -0400, "cshenk" wrote:

"mm" wrote
"cshenk" wrote

MM, this is a very LONG message now in reply.

I'm making a small, low balcony, just 28" off the ground.
Am I generally required to put a railing around this? The railing
would interfere with the view of the yard.

I looked more and found some more. On a diagram at the end of the
Baltiomre County Building Code, it says

1. One handrail is required for 4 or more risers.

Key in my area would be to look for the riser depth. If it says 'no more
than 6 inches' and you cant do 28 inches with that, then you have to put up
a hand rail. The final 'step up' to the porch part counts as a riser (grin)
in my area. I do not know if that is true in yours. You are not the same
state.

2. Two handrails with guardrails are required for floor surfaces more
than 30" above grade.
3. All risers must be of equal height.

(Grin, not required here for top and bottom steps).

And just about impossible sometiems, I realize, if one wants to use
pre-made stringers.

Some calculator online assumed 7" risers, which made my 28 inches very
simple, but when I was at HDepot, the risers were 6 1/2 inches. Four
times that is 26 and that would leave me needing two more inches to
make 28. What am I supposed to do?

(I don't have the original stringers anymore. I wish I could measure
them and see what they did.. But they were rotting and I threw them
away.)


I'm still cogitating on the rest. Thanks a lot.

4. [stuff about tread spacing]
(Major difference here between public access sites and private homes as well
as repair jobs on private homes to existing structures).

So these are clearly about steps, but it does show that the 30" height
makes a difference there. I coudlnt'' find anything about when a
railing around the "floor surface" is required. Plainly if it were 7
inches above grade, a railing woudln't be needed. I wonder where the
borderline is.

This might be a time to call the county code office and just ask. They do
in fact answer questions easily. Just tell them you are planning out a
repair to an old porch and how high it is and ask if a railing is required
or just recommended. Be sure to mention you are NOT building a new one but
repairing an existing one.

It seems a 4 riser set of steps requires a handrail, and it says
minimum 8" concrete under deck posts. I was just going to use the
cinder blocks that the original builder used. I hope the inspector
considers this a repair and not a new deck. Maybe he'll skip these
things, but I don't think I'm going to put a lot of effort into all
this in case he tells me it's no good now and I have to start over
from scratch.

The inspector has no choice if it is a genuine repair job (replacing some
boards etc). If however you are ripping it all out and starting over, it is
NOT a repair job so has to be code-spec to current.

Keep in mind the code books will tell you only *new* requirements. It is
not likely they will tell you what was allowed and if you fall in it. It
occurs to me i've lost track of just how much repair work you need.

It gives a third choice including Use approve Anchoring System for the
posts. I wonder if resting on a cinder block is approved. It's been
doing that for 30 years.

This may be allowable as a grandfathered option on a repair job.

This is probably not the same building inspector they send out for new
construction. One of my neigbhors is annoyed at me, and filed a
complaint, so this is the complaint inspector. I wonder if his
standards will be the same.

Dunno. I do know he has to honor 'grandfathered' code on a repair job but
have forgotten (sorry) the scope of your 'repair'.

The actual question is code dependant on your area.
I have not seen any in my area of Virgina of that heght without rails if
that helps.

OK, you've prompted me to look again, and to look harder, and I
noticed stuff I hadn't a few days ago. It's only 91 pages. Is that
it, or is there something longer?

There are volumes of this stuff. You found the one for porches and probably
new construction code.

Deleted a few bits as didnt know much on them.

Here's some experience that may help. It is not about a deck or rails but
code specs and grandfathering.

- Bad renter situation caused massive damage (25,000$ structural).

1) To resurrect the back 4th bedroom (such as we thought of it) a general
contractor was called. 45,000$ as least possible cost. He was looking only
at bedroom code specs and said it may well run an extra 80,000$ to have the
back of the house re-roofed as the room might not be ceiling tall enough to
pass inspection after he raised the floor (it's 1.5 inches below the rest of
the house). He even said he had to remove the door we had as it was an
exterior one now in an interior location (leads from 3rd bedroom to this 4th
room). Interior type door on the outside leading to screened porch had to
be changed to exterior door type.
- Damage was 2 of walls were kicked out and open to the elements and left
that way apparently 4 years.
- Instead we got drunk and took a cab to BJ's for a food load and saw a
sunroom estimate for free. We contacted them. One look and they understood
we have a code spec grandfathered 'enclosed porch' and for 10,000$ they
replaced the 2 bad walls. Code spec required they add the current footer
requirements (basically a trench with more cement about 18 inches deep and
something like 16 wide all around those walls). Code spec grandfathered the
existing roof and floor level being 1.5 inches lower than the connecting
room. Code spec said the exterior door to sun room from 3rd bedroom allowed
and a grey area where may be *required* in our case. Interior type door
leading to enclosed porch, legal. (we shifted it anyways to a steel
exterior).
- This is a case where code spec was mostly grandfathered but some new
aspects were required (2 'new' walls had to be footed)

2) My water heater is propped up on freestanding bricks, no mortor etc. It
still functions and at the time of this house being built, it was an
allowable option and not even required to stand it up a bit so you could
have a leak pan.
- As it is an older one, we checked and we will be required to have a footer
of (I think) 8 inches poured before an installer can legally put a new one
in. If I remember right, has to be 24x24 inches and was either 6 or 8 inches
high.
- This is a case where we cant just 'repair existing' without going code
spec.

3) HVAC, this still works fine. I can tell the exterior part has at best 5
years left as it's nearing 20 years old now. Same for the inside part.
- Grandfathered is the exit vent to the roof that almost wraps around a
kitchen door however if we replace the interior part (sorry, dont know the
words right) that has to be changed. Attic ducting will be ok (had that
replaced 8 years ago) but the lead from the heat/AC part has to move from
the door to the kitchen so it's farther back. Also unit has to be 3 inches
farther from the house wall than it is.
- Exterior part has to be moved 2 inches further from the house and
potentially the side of the house has to have that extra 'footer' (18 deep
and 16 wide roughly) done. At minimum, the slab it is on has to be replaced
likely as they seem to require a deeper pour and a higher rise than it's 3-4
inches above ground.
- As this would be a replacement, not a filter change etc repair, full code
spec applies

Take away for you on this, is there is a differnce in a 'repair' and a
replacement. I've tried to give examples (took a good while to type this!)
to show how it works. I think the end bit for you is it depends on how much
would you need to do. Sorry if i read and delete so dont have the
references you may have defined this in already and I've forgotten. Please
remind me?