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Don
 
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"SonomaProducts.com" wrote
In one of my former lives as a structural steel detailer (guys that
draft the shop drawings) we always used a consistent spacing for the
pickets. The odd spaces were at the posts, equal at each end of each
section. This way you never had more than 1/2 a space at each end.

There are building codes that dictate the maximum space between any
railing. In the old days it was stated as something like "Nowhere shall
a 6" ball be able to pass through any space in the railing".
Interestingly, the 6" was dictated by the average size of a babies
head. No kidding.


Good advice, with the exception that the code now has determined a baby's
head is 4".
Also, there can be no more than 2.5" from the bottom side of the bottom rail
and the floor surface.
The reason I was given for the 2.5" thing was stuff falling off the floor
and hitting people below.
We still put the bottom rail at 4" above the floor, then nail a 2x2 on the
floor under the bottom rail.
Don't get me going on the codes.....