Front porch advice. Raised bed in lieu of railing?

[mrs.jacinthe]

I like it with the railings as is ... but that said, is that drop really 31"? From the picture, it looks more like 6" to me.

Personally, if you don't like them, I'd just take the railings off. I doubt the city is going to come by with a measuring stick and quibble over an inch.

[arch01]

Honestly? People do things without meeting code all.the.time. It's why I have a job

In all seriousness though, I really, really highly doubt anyone would care. Unless you live in an area where your inspectors don't have shit to do and are out proactively enforcing perceived violations, I wouldn't worry about it.

[TBM]

I don't see a photo of your house....is it just me, or is it missing?

[bunnymendelbaum]

I would go with the raised beds.

Do you have kids? Do you hang out there a lot?

My thinking is go with raised beds right now (or nothing). Then if you have kids or it feels unsafe add a low, appropriate style railing (and raised beds if needed if you are worried about code).

We took the railings off our old house. We intended to, but never put them back. I liked it much better.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Apr 23, 2015 10:00:47 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

Apr 23, 2015 9:47:19 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

I like it with the railings as is ... but that said, is that drop really 31"? From the picture, it looks more like 6" to me.

Personally, if you don't like them, I'd just take the railings off. I doubt the city is going to come by with a measuring stick and quibble over an inch.

Sorry, I forgot to C&P the picture of our house. The second one is an inspiration photo. lol. If only that was our porch!

TBM @juno Yep, derp.

OH!  DERP! 

Now I see the actual house photo and I am significantly less confused.  LOL

My grandma's house was a lot like that, so I have a love for the semi-craftsman with wrought iron, but that wrought iron is doing the house no favors.  I'd maybe keep it the same height, but do something like this:

[nomad100]

As long as you have no plans to sell anytime soon, I say go with the raised beds and no railing.

Just realize that since no railing isn't to code, you may need to install something when selling.

[msmerymac]

It depends on if you have a building inspector who is going to come inspect the finished product, I guess. What do other people in the neighborhood do?

We kind of have this problem right now. We're getting our front steps re-poured in 2 weeks and we currently have NO railings on our porch, which is 36 inches of the ground. Most of our neighbors only have railings up to the start of the column on the base (ours are like yours), but that's too short to be to code, so we'll have to go up higher. We're doing pressure-treated wood and we will most likely paint it white down the line.

HOWEVER - we have an open occupancy permit on the house. We are technically living here based on a temporary occupancy permit and we have to close it out by having them come inspect the porch when it's ready. So we really need to make sure its to code. We're also trying to re-fi into a 15 year mortgage this year, and I don't think the lender would like not having a real occupancy permit.

[AAM2012]

If you're planning on moving within 5 years I would just build it to code rather than spending money to fix it when you sell. As a buyer when the inspection came I would be asking the seller to bring their house up to code.

I won't even begin to mention the potential lawsuit if someone falls or hurts themselves and it's not up to code....

[nomad100]

nursecramer Actually, it doesn't matter the type of loan. If it comes up in the inspection, the buyer will likely ask for it to be fixed since items not to code are usually the exact type of things that buyers want taken care of.

Not sure about your area but in our last home, we needed to get a village inspection to make sure the non-grandfathered items in the house were up to code before we put the house on the market and non-compliant issues needed to be taken care of before we could get the certification to list the house (if you chose not to fix you, you had to pay a fine, which was more that just fixing the items).

I get that it will thrown the proportions off but why pay double for the railing?

And like AAM2012 said, what if you put up a railing knowing it isn't to code and someone falls and hurts themselves? I don't want to think about the negative financial impact that may have since HO insurance would likely not cover you since you knew the railing wasn't to code.

[auntie]

I'd lose the wrought iron. It's not to code and detracts from the appeal of the facade.

I'd want a railing for a couple reasons, even not up to code, they provide a physical barrier for little people and a visual one for the rest of us. Plus, an authentic rail would give the space a more room-like feel on the porch and an inviting look from the curb.

I don't like the "inspiration" picture. That porch looks like an afterthought to an existing building. And the obviously staged Adirondack chairs are just silly. The guy in the chair on the left would be smudging the window with hair product; the guy on the right would be have climb over him to access the seat and their feet would be dangling among the succulents because there isn't room on that slab for them.

In your situation, I'd probably elect to re-grade the front lawn and build the soil up around the porch. This would close the 30" gap without resorting to the basic raised bed that screams homeowner DIYed after a trip to the EP Henry display at the home show. TBH, in the event I fell off your porch, I'd rather land on a nice soft shub than in the cactus and bolder strewn raised bed.

It's funny the differences in code. Here I needed a 36" railing on any deck/porch 12"+ off the ground. We recently sold my aunt's place in ME; her deck is off the 2nd story and had no railing at all. To sell we kluged together a post and rope that was keeping with the nautical theme. I think crime tape would have been more effective.