# Forum Home Renovation Stairs, Steps and Ramps  dont want to make a landing on tempory steps

## kasperflipped

Ahoy there chaps and chapettes,
Had my first certificate of occupancy inspection on friday and among some minor issues that i expected the major one i didnt expect was regarding the temporary steps i have built for the 2 back doors. I was told that if the amount of distance from the top step to the ground is greater than 570 and more than 3 steps are needed to travel this distance a landing of 750 in length must be installed. (refer to attached pic) 
 Now the distances from top to bottom of my steps at the moment are 700 and 900, so im well and truely over and therefore my steps, even though they are temporary until the deck gets built, are illegal.  
A little bit of side info, we relocated a house, the bank/government wont give us the first home owners grant until we have the Cert of occupancy as they have issues with relocated houses, any how it is the first home owners grant money we will be using to build a deck that these 2 doors open onto. This is the reason my steps are only temporary so we can get the certificate and the deck building money. 
Back on track to the question. Now i really dont want to have to shell out more cash to have 2 stupid landings installed when im just going to pull them down again in a couple of weeks. I was informed by a builder that maybe i could just build up the ground level around where the steps are until its within the 570mm mark (so about 20ish mm for one steps and 450ishmm the other) with dirt and paving.
Do you think this would satisfy whats required in regards to the steps?
Also how far around the steps do you think i should also build up? so it doesnt look so obvious? or does it not matter aslong as the ground immediatly around the stairs is correct? 
Thanks in advance for any replies 
trent

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## danielhobby

hi,building up ground level hasd been known to work to get around regs temporarily.also,are you sure that the dimension drawn as going210mm is legal,to my understanding the only stair that can have a 210mm going is a spiralstair.cheers danny.

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## dib

You can build up dirt at the bottom, this reasonably common to do (and and have done this).  I have also heard of people nailing up doors so that the stair/s can not be used to get their certificate. I had to build a 40mm "deck" around the bottom of my stairs into the garage as it was 610 not 570 (oops!).

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## kasperflipped

> hi,building up ground level hasd been known to work to get around regs temporarily.also,are you sure that the dimension drawn as going210mm is legal,to my understanding the only stair that can have a 210mm going is a spiralstair.cheers danny.

  yeah the step width has to be a minimum of 240mm, that bit of pen is from a builders old job who scanned me the page. 
So I think I'm going to have a crack at this "building" up the ground, it will be a much cheaper option.

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## Eastwing

You could try just blocking the door off.

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## Cecile

> You could try just blocking the door off.

  i agree.  will they issue the C of O if the door(s) in question are permanently (temporarily) fastened shut, eg with screws?  building up the dirt at the bottom works also but makes more work when comes time to build the deck as you'll have to shift the dirt again

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## Bloss

Generally the door is fixed so that it can't be opened - so screws or nails in a hidden place but able to be shown to the certifier/ inspector. Then they are removed once signed off and deck built. I've had doors opening onto where a later deck will be 4m high passed this way!

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## kasperflipped

ahoy everyone, just letting you know that building up the dirt around the stairs has worked and passed council inspection, so if your ever in the same position as i was, consider this as an option
trent

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## watson

Thanks for the update.

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