Deck building
in Lawrence

The exemption is narrow. Chapter 5 of the Lawrence City Code exempts an uncovered deck only when it is no more than 30 inches above adjacent grade, not over a basement or a story below, and not part of an accessible route. A roof over the deck removes the exemption at any height.

Lawrence enforces the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted with local amendments in Chapter 5 and in effect since July 1, 2019. The city's residential deck handout is older: revised in October 2017, written to the 2015 code, and still the version the city links today. It remains the clearest summary of what Lawrence reviews, but where it differs from the adopted code, the code governs.

Who can hold the permit is also set locally. When a homeowner hires the work out, the contractor has to be licensed with the City of Lawrence, a license the city ties to code knowledge, workers' compensation and general liability insurance.

A Lawrence deck permit application has four parts: the signed building permit application, an owner-occupant form when the homeowner is pulling the permit, a plot plan and a set of construction plans. Plans may be submitted electronically or on paper.

The plot plan is drawn to scale, preferably 1 inch to 20 feet, and shows the lot dimensions, existing buildings and easements, the deck's size and location, its distance from each lot line, and nearby windows and doors, since glass beside a walking surface can require safety glazing.

The construction plans, drawn at ¼ inch or ⅛ inch to the foot, show:

Layout

deck dimensions, post spacing, height above grade, and the location of stairs and the number of risers

Foundation

footing locations, diameter, depth and spacing

Framing

post sizes, beam sizes and spans, ledger size, and the type, size and spacing of the ledger fasteners

Joists and decking

joist size, spacing, orientation, species and grade, and the decking material, since composite decking may need additional structural support

Guards, handrails and special conditions

guard and handrail heights and materials, plus conditions such as a cantilevered floor on the house or cantilevered deck joists

A deck builder in Lawrence draws the plot plan before the deck's shape is final, because it is where the city's placement rules show up first.

Lawrence sets its own frost depth. The city's amended Table R301.2(1) lists a frost line depth of 30 inches, and the deck handout sets 30 inches below finished grade as the minimum for a frost footing. A Lawrence deck builder sizes each footing's diameter for its load, but the depth starts from that local number.

Guards are required along open sides more than 30 inches above the grade below, and a handrail on any flight with four or more risers. Guard heights and openings are covered on our railing page.

Lawrence inspects a deck in four stages:

Footing

after the holes are dug and any reinforcing is in place

Framing

after the rough framing is complete, before decking covers any structure that can't be seen from below

Rough-in electrical

to confirm the stairs are lit and that a receptacle has been provided

Final

once framing, decking, guards, handrails and electrical fixtures are installed

The electrical stage surprises many homeowners. A deck reachable from inside the house needs at least one receptacle within its perimeter, no more than 6 feet 6 inches above the deck, and the stairs need lighting, which the handout says an existing light beside the patio door usually provides.

Lawrence adds a preservation step to some deck permits. Chapter 5 of the city code says that when a building permit is required for work on a designated landmark, on a property within a historic district, or within the environs of either, the application is forwarded to the Lawrence Historic Resources Commission. The city can't issue the permit until the applicant has a Certificate of Appropriateness or a Certificate of Economic Hardship from the commission.

That review covers a deck because a deck needs a building permit. It can reach beyond the district boundary too, since environs review applies to properties near a listed landmark or district, not only those inside it.

Lawrence's older neighborhoods include listed districts. The Oread Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, covers roughly West 9th to 12th Streets between the alleys behind Louisiana and Kentucky Streets. Its houses range from large fashionable homes to modest National Folk residences and early twentieth century styles. Where the commission's review applies, a Certificate of Appropriateness is a design approval, so it looks at how the deck fits the property, separately from the structural plan review.

KC Deck Builds is a locally owned, licensed and insured deck builder serving Lawrence and the wider Kansas City metro. New deck construction designs a deck from the footings up within a lot's setbacks and easements. Deck replacement is for a deck whose structure has failed or no longer fits the lot's current rules. Deck repair addresses isolated damage on an otherwise sound deck. Deck resurfacing replaces the boards and keeps a frame that is still structurally sound. Composite deck installation covers choosing composite boards and the framing they need.