• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

When is a glass panel required in an exterior door of a public building.

B

brent

Registered User
Joined
Jan 24, 2017
Messages
3
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas
When or is a glass vision panel required in an exterior door of a public building. I ask because I am a public school teacher and I have seen people get hit with the door when it opens if they are not carefully watching. The door is a metal double leaf door that opens to the outside of the building.
 
Thank you, I just did not know because it seems to be a safety issue. It would seem to make since to be able to look through the other side and avoid getting hit.

Thanks for your prompt reply
 
Often these types of doors are emergency/fire exits, and in that circumstance, smacking someone with the door would be the least of anyone's worries.
 
That makes complete sense. This door is a high traffic door that is used constantly, from
going from one building to another by staff and students. Someone in my building nose
got broken, because someone opened the door right at the same time she was grabbing
the handle.
 
As stated earlier it's not a requirement and may not even be allowed depending on the fire rating of the door. However, it's quite possible that it would be permitted and doable and if you suggested to the powers that be is a safety improvement you may be able to get it done.
 
Welcome

Teachers are great!!

Maybe signage open door slowly or something
 
cda said:
Welcome

Teachers are great!!

Maybe signage open door slowly or something
Click to expand...

...magnetic hold opens connected to fire alarm...

All heavy use fire doors should have these. And if you're in a facility that ticks of the fire door and heavy use boxes, it should be do-able from a budget perspective.
 
At many schools, I've seen them apply a semicircle line on the floor to indicate the extent of the door swing, so that people will have a warning when walking by an outswinging door; however, this is not required by code.

The other posters are correct, vision panels in doors are not required by code. As a gross generalization, more glass = more issues with protection from heat during a fire, unless you get certain (expensive) kinds of specialty glass.
There are certain situations (for example, bathroom doors) where you would value privacy or security more than vision, and we want the code give us enough leeway as designers to make the safety call on a case-by-case basis, rather than a one-size-fits-all rule.

The signage on the inside of the door may be your best bet, and it has the added benefit of raising their awareness about similar door situations when they are not in school. Though I have to say, in my high school the sign below would have been perceived as an opportunity for mischief, not a warning:
depositphotos_11976806-stock-illustration-safety-signs-warning-triangle-sign.jpg
 
An inexpensive suggestion could be a large DoorScope. They are also available for fire-rated doors.

"The large DoorScope peephole is a wide-angle door viewer using advanced optics to project the image outside your door through a prism and onto a viewing lens, giving you 168 degrees of visibility.

With the large DoorScope wide-angle door viewer you can see what is going on outside your door from up to 7 feet away. The large DoorScope is great for children, the handicapped, short-stature adults, the elderly and the visually impaired."

Almost smacked an officer recently on my way out; a couple of days later they put one of these in; works great.
 
We could get really lost in the weeds with the disability question.

The OP asked, when and if it is a requirement to have a vision panel in an exterior door.

Question answered...........no, not a requirement.

Yes, many options available, some may work for all, all may work for some..........but there may not be any answer for some.

We could kicked this to the curb and back a million times, no right answer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBI
Here again is the ongoing "it depends"; not just on best practice, code and law but on standard of care in the area in which the work is performed.
Ultimately a risk management issue.
 
Victoria Baggett said:
It is extremely unsafe that the entryway open from both destinations. kindly contact entryway repair as quickly as to defeat the danger of injuries. And it is an both-side door toilet so please resurface the latrine when possible. There are such a large number of site who come at instant and repair the door.You can get in touch with them through their sites.
Click to expand...

HUH? I think something is getting lost in the translation.......... ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBI
If you look at the previous replies by both "Victoria Baggett" and "Robert Carpenter" (who has posted previously just once before on these forums with a marketing link), I strongly suspect that Victoria and Robert are names of real persons somewhere on this planet, but in this case their names have been hijacked by some 3rd party who is establishing a trail of posts in order to return later and soft-sell us to some links elsewhere as part of their stealth advertising effort. (I know a real "Robert Carpenter" who is an architect, and he would never do this or respond like that.)
I am going to click the "report" buttons for the administrator to review, and if I'm wrong, I apologize to these newer members.
 
Users have been banned, posts deleted. Soft delete on this one, as there were subsequent comments that would have to be removed, I'm not comfortable doing that.
 
Yikes said:
If you look at the previous replies by both "Victoria Baggett" and "Robert Carpenter" (who has posted previously just once before on these forums with a marketing link), I strongly suspect that Victoria and Robert are names of real persons somewhere on this planet, but in this case their names have been hijacked by some 3rd party who is establishing a trail of posts in order to return later and soft-sell us to some links elsewhere as part of their stealth advertising effort. (I know a real "Robert Carpenter" who is an architect, and he would never do this or respond like that.)
I am going to click the "report" buttons for the administrator to review, and if I'm wrong, I apologize to these newer members.
Click to expand...

What typically happens is that they post relatively on topic comments and the later return and edit their posts for advertisements. Since Jeff prevents them from editing posts beyond a fairly short window, this is not an issue in our forum.
 
Brent,
The code is the minimum that a building owner need to meet.
When an design professional designs a building, generally they will get a building permit with a set of drawings that get a D- Grade... this is barely passing, but that is all they need to meet code.Building owners don't want to spend more money than they have too.

Your scenario is a good example: vision panel not required but would be a good idea
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top