What does the deck-building inspector mean by "risers". I just built a deck, and he wrote that I needed them.

Question

I just built a deck and had it viewed by the city for final approval of the construction. I wasn't home at the time and the inspector wrote on the building permit that it needed risers. What are the "risers" he is referring to?

It's is a 8ft. x 5ff. deck with a 5ft. wide step coming off of the 8ft. side. Standard rectangular deck. The deck comes directly off my house, with the 8ft. side anchored in front of my door. The other 8ft side faces the streen and sits on concrete footings, with metal "boots" that hold the 4x4's in place on the concrete footings.

The deck sits about 3.5 ft. off the ground and has railing that is about 4.5 ft. high (nothing was said to be wrong w/ the railing).

The step is made of three step boards (whatever you call them) that I purchased from Menards, faces the street, and has the same deck boards laid on top of the step that I used for the deck.

I can't think of what is meant by "risers" or why I would need them.

Please help.

Answer 1

I am assuming the backs of your stairs are open and you need to put boards there.  Call the inspector to verify what he wants.  If he comes back and you have not fixed the correct thing, he will be very mad!!  

Answer 2

riser is the vertical member between the steps(treads). on a deck they are usually 1x8 ripped to the width between treads and nailed to the face of the stringers(what you are calling step boards).

it is a rather recent code requirement to prevent little kids from getting caught in the open space between two steps.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Risers are the term carpenters use to describe the boards place on edge at the back of each step. In other words you probably did not put risers on the back of each step, which could be a place where a small child could get their head stuck.

Get some treated lumber and rip it to the correct width and fill in the (risers) on each step.

Also your railing balusters (these are the vertical pcs. of wood) need to have no more than 4" space between them * at least in our county.