Hello All,

I’m looking to add stairs to a deck. For context, because of it’s 27″ height, per my local code officials I don’t need a permit. Strictly speaking, I suppose, I don’t need to abide code since it’s not going to be inspected, but I figure they’re there for a reason.  The main posts are 6x6s roughly 6′ on center, which means a lot of excavation for a landing if I go full width. The construction has 2×12’s let into the posts, acting a rim joist, and then another 2×2 as a fascia board.

To narrow the stair, I was thinking of adding 6x6s as railing posts, butting against a joist on one side. I’ve seen a lot of information to the effect of notching 4×4 posts being bad, but this seems to not be directly applicable in two ways. First, I’m using 6x6s. Second, to avoid weird jogs in the railing, the railing posts would have their notch facing out from the deck, the depth of the rim joist. This would tend to close the notch, rather than open if further, if force is applied form the deck. The attached image should give a rough indication of what’s going on.

My questions are two:
1. Is it permissible to notch a 6×6 on the opposite side form where the force is applied?
2. If yes, what hardware and/or additional blocking would be required?

Thanks in advance,
JGH