Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Nov 24, 2015 3:44 pm Hi, In a double story house and internal stairs with landing and a half wall between stairs dropping in parallel with the stairs drop. I am wondering if there is an Australian Standard or Building Code which talks about the position of the stairs rail? If the half wall is 1m high can we put the rail on any side of the stairs? I hope I am making sense... Thanks in advance Re: The position of the stairs rail - Standard or Building c 2Nov 28, 2015 12:17 am Hi Assh, I believe that either side is OK as long as the stair does not exceed 1500mm in width, when rails are required on both sides. Personally I believe that it is nicer if the rail goes on the outside. Re: The position of the stairs rail - Standard or Building c 3Nov 28, 2015 10:11 am Safety and amenity are the prime requisites when it comes to stairs which is covered in the NCC. With your stairs not having any tapered winders, the outside as Leonardo_23 says would be fine. You also have to ask yourself who is going to be using the stairs and how will they go with one person going up the stairs at the same time as someone going down ? A case where a handrail either side comes into its own particularly if older people live in the house. Leonardo_23, where did you see the info about stairs wider than 1500mm needing a handrail either side ? Stewie Re: The position of the stairs rail - Standard or Building c 4Nov 28, 2015 2:24 pm HI Stewie D. I believe it was pre-1974 Ministry of Housing rules, from whence most rules relating to stair safety came. Since then many rules have been dispensed with (but not yet the 2R+G rule), but the law of precedent applies I believe. In 1996, BCA Class 2 - 9 buildings had the rule of handrails on both sides at 2000m width or more. But children can frequent Class 1 buildings and so the rule from memory was 1500mm for houses, based on a precedent where a designer was successfully sued. Toilet doors and shower doors are two more that come to mind... and these are actually in the BCA today I believe. The fact that it does not appear in today's BCA doesn't necessarily matter according to the Supreme Court at least. I've had 1988 rules officially re-adopted in VCAT as regards renovations giving the appearance to the layman of being fully renovated. Re: The position of the stairs rail - Standard or Building c 5Nov 29, 2015 2:24 pm Interesting. I've never seen it mentioned before especially for Class 1 buildings. Class 2 - 9 I'd understand as that is for commercial, multi-residential etc. I also think it comes back to what I mentioned earlier regarding access, safety and amenity and good old common sense particularly where tapered treads as in circular staircases are used. Stewie Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 5831 CDC Housing Code 3 When to apply Floor Area external face of wall vs Gross Floor Area internal face of wall. Reading thru CDC Housing Code 3, lets take a lot 915sqm.… 0 11651 |