I'm designing a deck and need help interpreting the code with respect to stairways and landings. According to R311.7.6 of the Virginia Statewide Building Code, there shall be a floor or landing at the top and bottom of each stairway. However, it doesn't define what a stairway is. For instance, if I had a step down out of my house onto a step, then below that was the deck surface, is this considered a stairway? The door is a slider, if that makes a difference. There's an exception for interior stairways not needing a landing, but it doesn't say the same about exterior stairways. Regardless, the question is what exactly is considered a stairway? Seems to me that if a deck under 30" doesn't require a guardrail and a stairway with 4 risers or less doesn't require a handrail, then a single step from deck into the home shouldn't require a landing.

I'm designing an odd shaped deck and could use some assistance laying out the beams and joists. Below is one option, at least I think so. The only problem area is the rearmost band board wouldn't have much to attach to, and I'd need to add a post to support a single joist at the rear intersection. This needs to be freestanding. I drew the beams as dropped beams, but maybe some combination of dropped and flush would work better. Other questions, in general, can LUS and/or HUS hangers be used to attach the end of one beam to another beam or a beam to a ledger as opposed to adding another post? And can two beams intersect at a single 6x6 post?