Kansas Building Codes: Stairs & Guards

Kansas has no statewide residential building code. Adoption is entirely home rule — each city and county decides which edition of the IRC to adopt, if any, and what to amend. The most commonly cited edition among the state’s larger cities (Wichita, Overland Park, Kansas City KS) is the 2018 IRC, but that is a local pattern, not a state mandate — a neighbouring county can be on a different edition, or none at all.

Because there’s no state code to cite, the stair and guard figures here are the plain 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. See the US stair & guard rules for the shared figures — then confirm the edition and any local amendments with your specific city or county building department before you rely on them; that’s the only authority that matters in a home-rule state.