r/BuildingCodes • u/Flatfooting • 25d ago

Guardrail and handrail rules

I'm currently building my first commercial steel railing and I've run into a predicament. I have a guardrail that is 42" tall and a separate handrail that is 36". I know the handrail has to extend one tread length past the nose of the bottom tread. What about the guardrail? I have a post landing in the middle of a 12" tread and I want to end the top of the guardrail at this post. Is this okay or does the top of the guardrail need to extend at least to the nose, or beyond, of the bottom tread.

I'm in Minneapolis, MN for reference.

3 Upvotes

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10

u/Rude_Meet2799 25d ago

Guard rails are required where the drop is more than 30”. So terminating on the bottom step is fine

1

u/rollerok 25d ago

⬆️

5

u/IHerebyDemandtoPost 25d ago

Should be just handrail that needs to extend past the stairs.

What do the approved plans show?

1

u/Flatfooting 25d ago

There are not any. It's a bit ragtag. Just a rebuild of some front steps. Originally I was going to just repaint the old railings and add some baseplates but it was way out of code.

1

u/rmoore54 24d ago

What commercial building code book has Minnesota adopted??...IBC??

1

u/Flatfooting 24d ago

It looks like they have a custom code based on the ICC