Tennessee Residential Code: Stairs & Guards

Tennessee sets the Tennessee Residential Code, based on the 2018 IRC, as a statewide minimum. It’s a floor, not a ceiling: local jurisdictions can and do adopt newer editions — Nashville, for example, has moved to the 2024 IRC — and some counties opt out of enforcement altogether.

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. No Tennessee-specific stair or guard amendment is confirmed here. See the US stair & guard rules for the shared figures, and confirm the edition and any local amendments with your city or county — Tennessee’s patchwork means the statewide minimum isn’t always what’s actually enforced.