During the first couple of years of my homeownership, the builder put in a couple of retaining walls along the two sides of my house near the rear wall. The retaining walls did not go above 3′ of soil as the installer commented if they did they would have to install a railing per code. I do not know if this was county or state code.
While driving through phase three of my community, I noticed the builder had to use a +4′ retaining wall to hold back the soil in order to install the required sidewalk that runs along the street. It is at least 4′ tall. No railing. This is in an HAO-controlled community within Gwinnett County, Georgia, but not in any city limits.
Would it be not far-fetched to presume the no-railing-required condition is a result of the retaining wall not interfacing a physical structure (e.g. home)? The wall must be at least 8-10′ above the 3′ elevation. I would ask the county chief building inspector, but that numbnuts is a do-nothing know-nothing kind of person (spoke to him before).
Replies
I've never seen a railing atop a retaining wall here, except when there was some sort of walkway on top.
I'd say you were right on, but I don't know how your building official interprets the code book.
As long is there isn't a walkway, drive or any sort of path where people or cars would be travelling, a guardrail is not required. If you frequently notice people up on the high side of the retaining wall I would maybe talk to someone about it so that a guardrail gets installed as protection.
Per code, a guardrail is not required if the difference in height is less than 30 inches or if there is not a walkway, drive... There are some exceptions but they don't apply to typical applications (ex. loading dock, stage...)
J