Virginia Residential Code: Stairs & Guards

Virginia runs its own Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC), a state-authored umbrella code rather than a straight IRC adoption. Its residential volume, the 2021 Virginia Residential Code, became effective 18 January 2024 and was mandatory for all new permits from 18 January 2025.

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 Virginia-specific stair or guard amendment is confirmed here. See the US stair & guard rules for the shared figures, and confirm against the current USBC text for any local amendments.