Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code: Stairs & Guards

Maine builds to the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) — a statewide standard, updated to the 2021 IRC effective around 7 April 2025. There’s an important nuance: MUBEC is the statewide standard, but enforcement is mandatory only in municipalities that already enforce it — smaller towns (roughly under 4,000 population) without existing code enforcement aren’t required to enforce MUBEC at all. So the code applying on paper and a building department actually checking it aren’t always the same thing; confirm enforcement status with your specific town.

Where MUBEC applies, the stair figures match 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. No Maine-specific stair or guard amendment has been confirmed. See the US stair & guard rules for the shared figures.