Service
Decks and steps
Every exterior door needs a landing you can stand on while the door swings. It is the most commonly skipped item on a finished home, and it is a safety issue.
Landings
A landing at an exterior door has to be large enough to stand on safely while operating the door, and it cannot drop away immediately outside the threshold. A single step block set under a door is not a landing.
Both doors need one. The back door being “temporary” is how it stays for five years.
Steps
Rise and run have to be consistent. Uneven risers are the most common cause of falls on stairs, because people learn a rhythm on the first two steps and the third one that is an inch different breaks it. Manufactured home sites are especially prone to this because the height from grade to door varies with the pad and the pier height — it is easy to end up with an odd number that gets absorbed into one riser.
Handrails are required once you are above a small number of steps, and guardrails are required once a walking surface is high enough above grade. Both have height and strength requirements.
Egress
Doors and bedroom windows have to allow escape in an emergency. Steps and landings are part of that path — a door that opens onto a drop is not usable egress. This is worth thinking about whenever the pad is elevated for floodplain reasons, because the taller the pad, the longer the stairs and the more the geometry has to be planned rather than improvised.
Permitting
Whether a deck permits separately depends on where you are, and the answer inside city limits is often different from the answer in the county. In some jurisdictions a deck above a certain height or attached to the structure triggers its own permit and inspection.
Common questions
Can I use prefabricated steps?
Yes, if they meet rise, run, landing and rail requirements for your actual door height. The mismatch usually shows up when the pad is taller than the step was built for.
Do I need handrails on three steps?
It depends on the number of risers and the local requirement. Handrails are inexpensive relative to a fall, so we install them where there is any question.
How big does the landing have to be?
Large enough to stand on safely while the door swings, and it cannot drop off immediately at the threshold. The specific dimension depends on which code the jurisdiction applies.
Do decks need a permit?
Sometimes, and it varies by jurisdiction and by height. Inside city limits, assume yes until told otherwise.
Get the steps and landings built to standard
We build landings, steps and rails sized to your actual door height and pad, not to whatever came off a shelf.