We have attic trusses that are over our garage area and the wife wants a stair case instead of the drop down attic stairs. What is the legal width of a set of stairs that will only have minimal access. Is it 36″ or can I go less??? Ideally, I’d like to go with a 28-30″ width. To fit between the garage bath and the water heater closet, the rise is 7 5/16″ and run is 10″. If I have to put a turn, my pool table won’t fit
This is not going to be inspected, but I also don’t want to deal with “meeting code compliance” if we ever move.
Thanks in advance.
Replies
How far apart are the trusses? 24" on center? If you go with stairs that are wider than the typical dropdown attic stairs, that infers you'll have to cut one of the trusses to make room for it...you could be opening up a whole can of worms if that's the case.
Yes, I have to cut one of the trusses(24"oc) but I am able to sister in a few 2x10's on each side of the opening and they will be able to run full lenght to redistribute the load on the cut truss. The truss guy said "no problem"
Basically it is a 25' span with a 2/10 bottom cord that has the room/opening of 14' wide "centered" about 4' in from one side and 7' in from the other.
Per the IRC 2000 code book {303.4-314.4} Stairs,
Min stair width 36"
Min headroom 6'8"
Max riser height 7 3/4" Min tread depth 10"
Handrail req'd if 2 or more risers
Handrail height min 34" & max 38"
That's the same info I had... Just hoping for an "exception" type rule for attic access.
Your truss guy is an idiot. Nailing some 2X10s on the trusses isn't going to accomplish anything.
Ask them for a repair drawing from an engineer. They can provide it, if they want to. But get it in writing. Someone's woirh that it's "no problem" is worth absolutely nothing.
I did a post about Cutting trusses quite a while back that explains some of my reasoning.
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
The stair requirements posted here by others apply to stairs that used as a means of egress in a occupied or habitable space. There are no buiding code requirements for the stairs you are asking about. It has to do with wether or not the space served by the stair are a habitable space. Obviously that is not the case, so it doesn't apply. If you were to cinvert the attic to a useable room, then the buiding code requirements would and should apply.
Hmmm..., I don't know, Tim. He's going to put a pool table up there. Sounds "habitable" to me.
Greg