DC Residential Code: Stairs & Guards

The District of Columbia runs its own 2017 DC Construction Codes, of which the DC Residential Code is a part, based on the 2015 I-codes and effective 29 May 2020. As a single city-state jurisdiction, DC’s code applies uniformly — there’s no county-by-county variation to track. Modernization to a newer edition is reportedly underway, but nothing newer has been adopted as of this page.

For a house stair, the figures follow the IRC baseline — 7¾ in max riser, 10 in min tread, 6 ft 8 in headroom, 36 in min width, 34–38 in handrails, 36 in guards, the 30 in guard trigger and the 4 in sphere — figures that have stayed stable since well before the 2015 edition. No DC-specific stair or guard amendment is confirmed here. See the US stair & guard rules for the shared figures, and confirm the current edition with DC’s Department of Buildings before you rely on it — this is the oldest base code year of any US jurisdiction covered here, and it may have moved on since.