Stair and Porch Railings in Ferndale, MI

Small Lots North of Eight Mile

Ferndale is 3.88 square miles of tight residential grid between Eight Mile Road and I-696, and its houses run older than its neighbours’. Census estimates for 2020–2024 put 42% of its homes before 1940, against about 17% in Royal Oak, with another 16% from the 1940s and 18% from the 1950s. Close to four in five are single-family detached houses, mostly on small lots, so the railing work tends to be front steps, small porches and back stoops rather than long runs.

A Rental Checklist That Names the Railings

Every rental in Ferndale has to be registered with the Community and Economic Development Department, and the city’s 2024 rental checklist, based on the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code, spells out what inspectors cite. It asks for a handrail on stairs with more than four risers; guards on any open porch, deck, landing or stair more than 30 inches above grade; guards 36 inches high that withstand 200 pounds of lateral pressure; and handrails and guards firmly fastened. It also calls for repairing cracks, holes or broken masonry on porch steps, which matters because a post is only as solid as the step it is anchored into.

A Permit Either Way

Ferndale’s Permit Center says a building permit is required whether the owner does the work or hires a contractor. The checklist’s “more than four risers” is maintenance-code wording for existing rentals; new work follows the Michigan Residential Code, which requires a handrail at four or more. The two numbers are not interchangeable, so ask the department which governs your job.

Railing Jobs in Ferndale

Between downtown at Nine Mile and Woodward, the West Nine Mile strip and the borders with Pleasant Ridge and Hazel Park, typical work is new front-step railings, re-anchoring rails after the masonry is fixed, steel and iron rails, interior stair railings, handrail fixes from a rental report and deck guards.

Ferndale Railing Questions