Deck Stairs Post Placement

For instance lets say you have two decks one with 12 joists and the other with 18 joists.

Deck stairs post placement. This image shows a contemporary technique where solid stringers and open risers are set higher up against the fascia and angle brackets secure them to the deck. The stringer must support a design live load of 40 psf for residential decks. Most newels are three to three and a half feet in height.

But a more common technique is to use notched stringers and secure them to a drop down board behind the rim joist of the deck. The corner joint was to sit directly on the 4x4 deck support post. Here is a list of some common joist sizes and maximum spans.

Building code requires support posts for the rail structure to be no further apart than 6 feet on a deck with 44 deck rail posts and no more than 8 feet apart for decks with 66 deck rail posts. The stair railing should include a graspable handrail in most cases. In general posts should be spaced no more than 8 feet apart.

When posts are installed in this position an acceptable hand rail must extend inside the post and all the way to a position plumbed up from the first stairs nose and then most often include a cumbersome double return so a flowing sleeve wont catch on the end of the rail and cause a fall there. John Cox LEED APFor. Pressure-treated posts should always be ground contact use for deck lumber.

Deck post installation is one of many steps to building a deck. Openings in the railing should be no larger than 4 38 inches between balusters and 6 inches between the bottom rail and the tread as seen in the illustration. Assuming your beam size is the same for both decks then you can place your support posts a maximum of 6 apart for the 18 joist deck.

There are several code requirements to consider for posts and stringers. Some builders position them every 4 feet for a completely rigid frame. ATTACHING STAIR TREADS TO a deck.