Guardrails, rails, guards, handrails ... these terms are often used interchangeably. In the International Residential Code, however, they are distinctly different features with distinctly different functions. A guard, for example, is designed to help prevent someone from accidentally falling off an elevated walking surface, while a handrail is provided for someone using a stairway or ramp to purposefully grasp for assistance and stability. In the code, a rail is referred to as a “handrail,” while a guardrail is called a “guard” (see “Guardrails vs. Handrails,” at jlconline.com).
While the architectural requirements for guards, such as minimum height and maximum opening size, are well understood and easy to satisfy in design and construction, validating a guard’s structural capacity has only recently been formally discussed. For both interior stairs and deck stairs, inspectors typically have only one way to verify and approve the strength of a guard after completion: with a push and a pull. But research by Frank Woeste, Joseph Loferski, and others in the early 2000s brought attention to substandard deck guards and the insufficiency of typical notched guard-post attachments (see “Strong Rail-Post Connections for Wooden Decks,” JLC, Feb/05). In response to their findings, the market focused more attention on the guard-post attachment, with deck guides and manufacturers recommending hold-down-type anchors to tie the post into the structure rather than to just the outer joist or beam.
Opinions vary on whether a prescriptive method of guard construction should be included in the IRC. The consumer market enjoys the variety of deck-guard designs that can be created, and some builders fear that if an approved structural design for guards came to be codified, it would become the single mandated design. On the other hand, the lack of any guidance in the code has led to dangerous ideas of how guards can be built. Understanding the need and realizing the stalemate, all stakeholders made compromises during the latest code modification cycle, and the 2021 IRC now offers some guidance on deck-guard construction.
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