Decks · Humboldt and Trinity County
New decks in Humboldt and Trinity County
Humboldt Bay Construction Co. builds new decks across Humboldt and Trinity County, along with stairs and railings and deck rebuilds. The owner, Kyler Gouthier, is a second-generation general contractor who has lived in Humboldt his whole life. The company holds California license #1137566 and is based in Eureka.
Decks
Railings (guards) under the California code
Guards are required on open-sided floors, stairs, ramps and landings that are more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches of the open edge (R321.1.1).
Insect screening does not count as a guard.
Required guards have to be at least 42 inches high (R321.1.2).
On the open sides of stairs, guards have to be at least 34 inches high, measured from a line along the nosings.
Where the top of a guard on the open side of stairs also serves as the handrail, it has to be at least 34 and no more than 38 inches high, measured from a line along the nosings.
Required guards cannot have openings that a 4-inch sphere can pass through.
Guards on the open side of stairs cannot have openings that a 4-3/8-inch sphere can pass through.
The triangle at the open side of a stair, formed by the riser, the tread and the guard's bottom rail, cannot let a 6-inch sphere pass through.
The 2025 California Residential Code took effect on January 1, 2026.
Sources: 2025 California Residential Code, Chapter 3 (UpCodes); California Building Standards Commission: Codes
Work that doesn't need a permit
The county says the work that does not need a building permit is described in Humboldt County Code §331-11(a)(4) and California Building Code §105.2.
Source: Humboldt County: First Time Applying for a Building Permit
Outdoor wood on the north coast
The USDA Forest Products Laboratory rates how hard a place's climate is on wood left outdoors above the ground with a decay hazard index: the higher the number, the greater the hazard.
Its table of values for 1971 to 2000 lists Eureka at 44.5.
Its map groups places into three bands: under 35, 35 to 65, and over 65.
Source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory: Decay Hazard (Scheffer) Index Values, 1971-2000 (FPL-GTR-179)
Decks and the ember-resistant zone
The ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of a building, counting any attached deck as part of the building, is set out in Public Resources Code §4291, and its details are left to the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's regulations.
Under that section, the requirement for the zone (“Zone 0”) does not take effect for new buildings until the Board updates its regulations and its guidance document, and it takes effect for existing buildings three years after that.
Sources: California Public Resources Code §4291; Board of Forestry and Fire Protection: Defensible Space Zones
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