Can you post a photo for reference?

There are thousands on here! They show these beautiful open concept homes and manay, and I mean m-a-n-y show the stairs with no handrail at all.

I've seen this in Canada on occasion and the only way one can do it is to have a code compliant railing in place for inspection and once the building has passed all inspections and given its occupancy permit, the owner then removes the guards and railings. It's an aesthetic choice that, I suspect, could bring legal difficulties if there is ever an injury as a result of their removal. I'm not up to date on US building codes, so I'm not sure if there are conditions where the lack of guards or railings is permitted. Could be that building owners are removing them post-occupancy as well.

Not all municipalities have code or enforce consistently, it varies city to city, state to state. Then there is the old trick to get through inspection and change. The IRC sets the standards then its up to municipality, state to what they will enforce.

When customers call and order stairs from us they get to decide whether they want to be code compliant or not. Like Jeff said, it varies on location and whether or not the customer will be getting an inspection. I like the look of floating stairs ALOT but I always feel that they are very impractical. More for decoration then function.

we recently replaced a spiral stairs that wasnt code compliant in RI with another that was safer in many ways but still not code compliant. because we already had a spiral stairs there we were able to legally replace it. if we didnt already have one ours wouldnt have been "allowed". the same happened a few years ago when we were able to rebuild a steep staircase (almost a ladder) to a 3rd floor roof deck.

but i know what you mean, renfaire. there are a lot of gorgeous staircases posted lots of places that wouldnt be allowed in either MA or RI. friends in ME have quite a spectacular one, codes are more lenient there apparently.

We wouldn't have the choice of whether we wanted to be code compliant. If the stairs didn't pass code, we would be denied an occupancy permit.

What we just went through trying to renovate an older house and come up with a good looking stair case was crazy. The railing half way down loses the solid wall, so the last 5 steps have a single rail. Under that rail we had to configure pieces that could only be 3" apart to fill in that space. Mind you, above the railing could be left open....wouldn't a kid rather slide down a railing than crawl under it? If I fell over the rail the drop would be greater than if I fell under the rail and I would have have to scrouch down first to do that.

Code, I know, is there to protect us from harm. However, some of the rules are just plain ridiculous.

JudyG ... when I was growing up my parents' house had a banister-style railing around the upstairs stairwell. Spindles were probably 6-7" apart, and my little brother somehow managed to get his head stuck between them. Never underestimate kids!

That's why code states 4" sphere max. Any opening on stairs, risers, spindles where riser and tread meet under bottom railing.

My daughter did the same thing once. She was about 7. We had to remove the spindles to get her head out! She is 44 now and we still love to bring it up...just to keep her humble. : > )

6/7" is way too far apart, I agree.

Thanks for the comments. I was curious because I like all the modern open staircases without the handrail but was wondering how people got away withour having one.

The code for stairs basically IS the same everywhere in the US. http://inspectapedia.com/Stairs/Railings.htm And yes, I see it violated here on Houzz, including projects promoted by architects.

I think many times there are railings there you just can't see them due to clever and talented photography. This often occurs when the railings are of solid sheets of glass or clear plexi.
A talented photographer can use appropriate lighting conditions to eliminate any glare or reflection of the glass and it appears as a open railing in the photo's.