The where, the when, and the why of residential stairs and landings

Q: My name is Mr. Contractor. Is a landing required outside the door of a house onto the deck?

A: A landing is required outside any exit door from the house.

In this case, if the deck is only one riser down from the threshold of the door, then the deck serves as the landing.

Q: The deck is about two feet down from the floor of the house, we are going to have three risers. Do we still need a landing?

A: Maybe. Is this door the required exit door out of the house?

Q: What the heck is the required exit door?

A: Every house must have at least one exit door that meets the following [Straight from the Code]:

R311.4.1 Exit door required. Not less than one exit door conforming to this section shall be provided for each dwelling unit.

The required exit door shall provide for direct access from the habitable portions of the dwelling to the exterior without requiring travel through a garage.

R311.4.2 Door type and size. The required exit door shall be a side-hinged door not less than 3 feet (914 mm) in width and 6 feet 8 inches (2032 mm) in height.

Other doors shall not be required to comply with these minimum dimensions.

R311.4.3 Landings at doors. There shall be a floor or landing on each side of each exterior door.

The floor or landing at the exterior door shall not be more than 1.5 inches (38 mm) lower than the top of the threshold.

The floor or landing at exterior doors other than the exit door required by Section R311.4.1 shall not be required to comply with this requirement but shall have a rise no greater than that permitted in Section R311.5.3.

The landing shall be permitted to have a slope not to exceed 0.25 unit vertical in 12 units horizontal (2-percent).

Exceptions:

1) Where a stairway of three or fewer risers is located on the exterior side of a door, other than the required exit door, a landing is not required for the exterior side of the door provided the door, other than an exterior storm or screen door does not swing over the stairway.

2) The exterior landing at an exterior doorway shall not be more than 81/4 inches (209 mm) below the top of the threshold, provided the door, other than an exterior storm or screen door does not swing over the landing.

3) The height of floors at exterior doors other than the exit door required by Section R311.4.1 shall not be more than 81/4 inches (209 mm) lower than the top of the threshold.

The width of each landing shall not be less than the door served.

Every landing shall have a minimum dimension of 36 inches (914 mm) measured in the direction of travel.

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Q: The door to the deck is not the only exit from the house. Do we need to have a landing outside the door leading to the deck?

A: Depends on what kind of door the front door is. Specifically, can the front door can serve as the required exit door.

Q: The front door is a hinged door and 3 feet wide, and not through the garage.

A: In this situation, it appears that no landing will be required at the deck as long as there is a separate and compliant exit door somewhere else in the house.

Q: Can we change the door to the deck to a sliding door?

A: Yes, again, as long as you have another compliant exit door meeting the criteria above.

Q: My customer, the home owner, also talked about not building a deck, but rather installing a stone patio on the ground. Is this allowed?

A: The patio itself is allowed. And as long as there is no roof over the patio the property line setback requirements may be waived, therefore, it can be closer to the property lines as compared to the deck.

However, the stairs from the house will have more than 3 risers to get to the ground.

Now we get back to that landing issue, a compliant landing will need to be built outside the door by the deck.

Q: But you said that only applied to the main exit door, why do we need a landing?

A: Read the exceptions above. To not have a landing, there must not be more than 3 risers involved.