I'm renovating my stairs and replacing the carpet with hardwood, but I discovered that the riser height is 8.5 inches. I thought that current building code allowed a maximum of 7.75 inches for riser height. What are my options here? Can I keep the old risers, or do I need to make changes? Thanks for any guidance!
2 Answers
Honestly, the only surefire way to meet current standards would be to rebuild the stairs completely, which can end up being a huge expense. But remember, if you're not touching the stringers, that might keep you under the radar regarding needing to conform to today's codes. Just make sure you know what you're getting into!
In cases like this, you typically don’t have to meet modern building codes if you’re just renovating and not doing a complete overhaul. As long as you're not replacing the entire staircase, you can keep those 8.5" risers since they’re considered grandfathered in. But if you decide to remove everything, then you'd need to follow the current codes. Good luck with your renovation!
Thanks for clarifying that! Renovating has been really frustrating.
If I'm just replacing risers and leaving the stringers alone, does that still count as major renovation? Just checking!