If it’s in your home and doesn’t need to be inspected then probably nothing You may have to fix it and do it properly if you sell the house and a house inspection catches that.

Insurability and liability problems.

Worst case.... Someone could get hurt or killed resulting in a civil lawsuit. Lawyers will review previous house listing pictures and can put a timeline for recent renovations applied to the owner at that time.

Most likely this is required in your jurisdiction as 4" gaping has been around for years. If someone were ever at your house and their child was injured as a result, your insurance would not cover you, and if and when you sell the house, it would be found by a home inspector and you'd be required to fix it before sale.

Depends on where you live and if you want to sell. Age of the house too. Was code for interior railing ever 4” ever in place during the life of the house?

In theory, in jurisdictions that have such codes, an inspector must inspect the finished product. If it’s not up to code they will point out the areas that need remediation and these must be fixed. In practice plenty of projects fly under the radar and never get inspected.

It depends on where you live exactly. Different states in the .U.S have different laws. But usually it will come to bite you in the butt when you go to sell your house. Or if there is a lawsuit for some reason. It's always better to make things up to code to cover your skin, even if it is your own house.

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