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Differentiate Residential vs. Public Stair Codes — Verify with Local Building Codes

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How to Measure and Plan Treads for a Split-Level Staircase · Step 8 of 8

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The video outlines critical differences in building codes for staircases intended for private residential use versus those in public buildings. For private dwellings (like single-family homes, R3 construction), the 2018 building code typically allows a minimum tread depth of 10 inches and a maximum riser height of 7 3/4 inches, with a minimum riser height of 4 inches. Public buildings, however, generally require a minimum tread depth of 11 inches and a maximum riser height of 7 inches, also with a minimum riser height of 4 inches. Additionally, the minimum width for private stairs is often 36 inches, while public stairs require a minimum width of 44 inches. The occupancy load of a building (e.g., less than 50 people vs. more than 50 people) can influence which set of codes applies.

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like this built before. This has got to be one of the biggest problems with understanding the different types of stairways for um private home use basically in public buildings. what the difference is and stuff like that. I can tell you what the building code books say. I can tell you what I've learned over the years, but these building codes change and the interpretations of them change. So, you would need to check with your local building department to verify the information in this video. But what I would like to do was point out that there are two different types of stairways. a stairway with a 45 inch minimum tread width, stairway width, and a 11 inch tread depth. And of course, this stairway actually has a minimum or a maximum riser of 7 in, maximum height of 7 in, minimum of 4 in most of the time. Over here, we have a maximum of 7 and 3/4 in and a minimum of 4 in again. So we can see we have two different stairways. This one has a three-foot minimum width with 10 inch tread depth minimums. So the minimum tread depth 10 in. This is for a private dwelling. 2018 building code suggests that instead of used to be more or less for a private residential stairway, you could use this right here. So this would be for a single family home R3 construction basically. And this right here is the standard stairway. This is the basic building codes right here. This is basically an exception to this building code. According to the building code book 2018, if you have an occupant load less than 50 people, less than 50 people are going to be living in the building, then you can use this right here. More than 50, then you would use this right here. So, you would have to figure out what that occupant load would be. I mean, you go to some restaurants and stuff like that and it'll say occupant load of 68 people. So, I would doubt that you'd be able to use this. If you went to a restaurant, a public building where there are only going the occupant load, maximum occupant load in that building is 40 people, you're probably going to have to use this one. Residential homes, this one. Public buildings, this one. And that's probably the best way I could interpret it. And I believe most building authorities would uh agree with that also. So, let's take a look at the residential one. 3- foot wide minimum tread or stair width. This is the entire stairway. If you have build a stairway where you're going to have a section that's going to be larger and smaller, maybe larger at the…

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