LONG STORY SHORT: DH talked to inspector & we don't need stairs. The cost to do the pressure treated stairs is $600 per the bid the builder gave us. We called another guy in the area and he did a rough estimate that was about the same. Sorry, but, that just seems to be a non-trivial amount of money from our point of view for what would likely be a throw-away. We asked the builder exactly what code inspector cited that requires stairs & he didn't have an answer, but gave us the inspector's number. Hubby called the office late, yesterday, and talked to one guy who said, "Well, it's a good idea to have a way to get down to grade from the patio", but couldn't give him a paragraph in the code. He passed DH off to another inspector who said that he was the one that had done the inspection, that he hadn't written up anything about stairs & that there wasn't anything in the code to require them. Go figger! So, the builder says he will get this straightened out. We shall see. I appreciate the advice to just do what the inspector says. You get crosswise with an inspector on a relatively small thing & it might cost you on bigger things. I guess I was being contrary because I come from an aerospace background and manage manned spaceflight hardware projects. Inevitably in the build process, a QE or QA tells you either you can't do something or you must do something else different from what you are planning on. Usually, they are right and you thank them for their due diligence. But, it doesn't hurt to challenge them when the thing the are telling you sounds off. Plenty of times, they are just putting their own interpretation on the standards/regs/requirements docs. BTW - in trying to figure this out, I went Google crazy & was reading the online available specs for places all over the country. I must have gone through 2 dozen & the only place I found that required stairs to grade was Naperville, IL where you needed stairs if the patio was 8" or more above grade. Thanks for the help & advice. I'll update when things shake out one way or another, because it is likely a good data point. Jo Ann

Your stairs look great. I'm going to do a 7x3 feet landing and stairs like this. Mine will be a little lower to the ground and will have stairs on the 7 feet and one 3 feet side. I'm also going above an existing concrete patio, Some contractors have preferred not to attach a ledger to the side of my stucco house in favor of making it free standing. Seems safer from a moisture perspective to not have to go into the stucco, but I could be wrong. What type of wood did you use? I'm considering Redwood/IPE. Did you also consider some type of stone for this vs. wood? I'm trying to make that decision now.

I would just do a much larger than what you have for sure I much prefer decks to patios . We just covered our patio with a deck and made it so that it works with the rest of the deck around our house and I love it it seems so much bigger than the patio not sure why. Then just have the steps run all along one side with nice railing . Make the deck large enough to have everything on the deck so bigger is better

Thanks everyone, one of the contractors did leave me a message today so I called him back. He is coming next week on one of my days off. It will give me and my daughter time to pull up the carpet in the sunroom. I won't contact a home inspector. Chisue, I used to use it quite a bit when I first moved in. Loved reading in there on my big cushy chair and ottoman. Then neighbors back there had kids who would scream and fight and basically killed the enjoyment for me. I would love to sit out there again if I can put the screens back in and open the doors up. It gets pretty hot in there from Summer thru the Fall even with the overhead fan. I think I'd also use a covered porch too, but as others mentioned there are a lot of bugs here in KY too.