[left]i have a chimney that extents out that is resting on my concrete foundation walls. Reading the code on decks show framing around a chimney. Since this is on the foundation is is acceptable to attach a ledger to the rim joist of the chimney? It was currently attached to it and I’m in the middle of tearing out the old deck and rotten wood. [/left]

One of the sets of stairs on the deck I'm designing is up against the house such that there is only one railing. Problem is there is a downspout on the house side. I planned on offsetting the left stringer for clearance and notching the tread around it, but I'm not sure if this will pass inspection. There's a minimum clear width of 36" from the inside face of the rails (in my case the face of the house and inside face of the right rail), and with the downspout, the width at that particular section, albeit very minor, will be about 32". Do you think an inspector will fail me for this? There really isn't any other way to route the downspout without it looking ridiculous. Also compounding the problem is a handrail on the right side, if needed (there are four risers from platform to deck surface), which has a minimum required perimeter of 4". This would result in a clearance of 28" between downspout and handrail (handrail not shown in sketch). County drawings indicated a minimum width of 31.5". My drawing: [url]https://www.mediafire.com/view/kkozx5l57dq1215/Stair1.jpg/file[/url] County drawing: [url]https://www.mediafire.com/view/r288ia8db62b6w5/CountyStairDrawing.jpg/file[/url] I could maybe squeeze an inch or two more width into the design, but I'd be pushing it. I'm already up against property setbacks, and I'd hate to design my deck around a stupid downspout. If I modified my design, I could maybe get to the minimum 31.5" handrail clearance. I'd have to sketch it out, but this may also require installing the top/bottom rails on the stairs flush with the posts. I don't really want to do this either because then they wouldn't line up with the rails on the deck. Crap....those measurements are taken off the foundation wall, so I need to deduct another 1" for sheathing and siding. I may need to just remove the downspout and let if magically reappear after I pass inspection ;)