# Exterior stair landing tread size min/max?



## rossfingal (Mar 20, 2011)

It's considered good, practice to have a landing - 3' X 3' minimum, at the
top of stairs.
Even if the door on the house, swings into the house - you or someone else
may decide to put an out-swing, storm-door on.
When we run into this situation (if we have the room) - we put a 3' X 4'
landing on.
(If it's a single door - 3' wide - 4' away from the house)
It makes it easier to "negotiate" the storm-door.

rossfingal


----------



## titanoman (Nov 27, 2011)

http://www.inspectapedia.com/interiors/Stair_Codes.htm

Many places require the landing to be as deep as it is wide. 
I think the attached is NY.

Sent from a Samsung Galaxy S2


----------



## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

Here our minimum is 3' by 3', which I find small.


----------



## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

“*R311.3 Floors and landings at exterior doors.* There shall be a landing or floor on each side of each exterior door. 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. Exterior landings shall be permitted to have a slope not to exceed 1/4 unit vertical in 12 units horizontal (2-percent).” From; http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_3_sec011_par002.htm

http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_3_sec011_par003.htm

Check with your local AHJ.

Gary


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

OK if this 3'x3' landing is in the air, which it is, since it's the top step, how thick of a concrete slab should I use? I'm thinking of using 2x8's for the form. Would 2x6's do or is that too thin? Also, do I need to place columns underneath it, or will the stairs with #5 and #4 rebar every 6 inches suffice?


----------



## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

If I understand you correctly you are pouring your own concrete steps and landing?
Will they be filled in to the ground or open underneath?


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

Open underneath. So should the slab under the 3x5 landing be 6" or does it have to be 8" thick? Do I need columns under a free standing 3x5? On the one side the slab will be held up by a wall and on the other stairs at a slant (roughly 45 degrees). #4 and #5 rebar already extends out from the wall. The wall has already been built.


----------



## rossfingal (Mar 20, 2011)

"jackwashere"

Do you have plans/permits for this?
We've done something very, similar to what you propose -
we had, "Detailed" plans, signed off by an Engineer.
Considerations for the size and the placement of the rebar are crucial!
Were there existing, concrete stairs there, before?

rossfingal


----------



## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

Never have build my own that where open underneath. You can buy them and they attach to the concrete basement wall. The used metal underneath.


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

The plans call for compacted fill with 4" thick concrete and rebar #3 every 24". The plans show the side view without showing how the walls on the sides of the stairs should be built. So the plans are incomplete. Either way the inspector will come and see the form that I prepare and it will either fly with him or not. He never looks at the plans anyway. He has his own set of rules that he abides by.

I have #5 and #4 rebar spaced every 6 inches and coming out of the retaining wall that the house will be built on and I want to use 6" or 8" thick concrete for the slab. I will probably end up sticking two concrete form tube columns underneath the slab to help hold it up. I'll stick a few rebars in them and that will be it.


----------



## AndyGump (Sep 26, 2010)

I can not say that I understand what this project is supposed to look like but it sounds like you are headed for trouble.

Could you post a sketch or something that will describe the landing and steps in a little more detail?

Are you talking about a homemade, 8" thick suspended slab for the landing?

Very troubling.

Andy.


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

OK Andy, attached are two pix. The first is the plans. The second is how I want to do it.


----------



## AndyGump (Sep 26, 2010)

I see, this is certainly beyond conventional light frame construction or what is prescriptive in the latest IRC.

Get some engineering for this idea. 

Or go with wood.

Andy.


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

I gave it some thought and decided I'll just go with the path of least resistance. Which means I'll stick to the plans.


----------



## rossfingal (Mar 20, 2011)

"jackwashere"

Not knowing where you are -
I think it would be a good idea, to make sure the footing/grade-beam
at the bottom of the stairs - extends down, below the frost line -
also, the one against the house.
Just an opinion.

rossfingal


----------



## jackwashere (May 5, 2010)

There is no "one against the house". The architect/engineer just threw some plans for stairs from another project into my project. Check out the picture, attached. The site is in a flood zone so they made me build the house on top of a 4 foot above grade 2 foot below grade (6 foot total) structure. That's what the stairs are for, to get from ground/grade level to the house. The foundations 2 feet underground are 4 feet wide. So the 1 foot wide/deep foundations called for in the stairs plan would be situated on top of 4 foot wide foundations. It would be a case of tiny foundations resting above huge buried foundations. That's ridiculous! What I did instead was I placed #4 and #5 rebar 6" o.c. for the stairs about 16 inches deep into the main slab. The main slab is 8" thick. The wall supporting the slab is 1 foot thick. That rebar is not going anywhere! It will hold the stairs up very well. This whole thing is built like a tank, a bunker.

I just spoke with the inspector this morning. All he cares about is how the foundations will look. After that I can build whatever structure I want for stairs. I just might try to swing my version of the stairs project after all. 

As for frost line. The plans call for 12" foundations. When we dig water line trenches we make them 18". The official maps bundle all of California into one zone, and claim our frost line is 5". You have the snowed in Sierra mountains and low land areas down south near the beach where it never gets too cold. Yet on the official maps that show frost line all of California is one zone.


----------



## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

As long as bottom tread of the steps is sitting of solid undisturbed soil, the first drawing will be just fine with a 6" slab. Make sure you allow at least 4" under each riser form so the rebar has decent coverage. You'll also want to fill in the majority of the center "hump" with gravel/aggregate/broken block pieces/stones/etc... so you don't need to waste the additional concrete AND you relieve a little pressure on your forms.


----------

