CODE CHEAT SHEETS
Two pages each. The numbers you actually need, the section behind every one of them, and — the part nobody else prints — the 2021 and 2024 IRC numbers side by side, because the 2024 edition renumbered whole chapters. Guards went from R312 to R321. Handrails left the stair section entirely for R320. Smoke alarms took over R310, which used to mean emergency escape openings. Cite the wrong edition and you are pointing at a different subject.
Instant download. 10-day link, emailed to you as well. $9 a sheet, or $29 for all six.
- Ledger fastener spacing by joist span, plus edge and end distances
- The two items that get red-tagged: nails in withdrawal, missing hold-downs
- Footings, posts, beam and joist bearing, decking spans, deck guards
- All four new 2024 ledger flashing and water-barrier sections
- Riser, tread, nosing and the 3/8 in consistency tolerance
- Width, headroom, landings, winders and spirals
- Handrail height, projection, clearance, continuity and grip size
- Guard heights and the 4 in, 4-3/8 in and 6 in sphere rules
- The four numbers: 5.7 sq ft, 24 in, 20 in, 44 in
- Area wells, ladders, drainage and the 44 in depth trigger
- Replacement windows, basement remodels and additions
- The sprinkler trade-off for basement sleeping rooms
- Every required smoke alarm location, including the split-level rule
- CO alarm triggers: fuel-fired appliances and attached garages
- The permit-triggers-the-whole-unit rule and its exceptions
- The 2021 kitchen distance matrix and the single 2024 number that replaced it
- Trap size for every common fixture, plus shower sizing by flow rate
- Maximum trap-to-vent developed length by trap size and slope
- Drainage fixture unit values and branch, stack and building drain sizing
- Vent sizing, terminal locations and cleanout spacing
- T and P valve settings, and every discharge-pipe requirement
- Pan, pan drain and termination
- Garage elevation, seismic bracing and thermal expansion control
- Gas: combustion air sizing and prohibited locations
- Deck ledger, stairs, egress, alarms, DWV and water heater
- Every sheet shows both the 2021 and 2024 IRC numbers
- Instant download, and the link stays live for 10 days
How these were built
Every value on every sheet was read out of the published code, not recalled and not lifted from another site. The generator that produces these PDFs refuses to build a sheet containing a section number that does not resolve against the code itself, and each claim is checked against the text of the section it cites before the sheet ships. That is a strange thing to advertise until you have seen how much code content online is quietly wrong.
The sheets restate requirements in plain language and tell you where each one lives. They do not reproduce code text or full tables — for those, you want the code book, and the sheet gives you the section to turn to.
Brent J. — ICC-Certified Building Official · Founder of ProjectCalc. Reference only. Confirm the edition your jurisdiction has adopted and any local amendments before you build or submit. Not a substitute for engineering design or an official code determination.