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3 season rooms & landings/floors

rktect 1

rktect 1

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
1,112
Location
Illinois
Okay. I have a new 3 season room being proposed. From the house into this 3 season room I am required to have a landing on both sides of the door, right? And according to our ordiance's that landing shall be attached to the primary structure and protected from frost, usually done by wing walls or concrete piers. This 3 season rooms floor will be brick pavers over 4 inches granular fill. Problem 1 will be to get them to have the landing outside this door to be properly supported as per IRC and village ordinances.

Problem 2. Being an addition to the house, what is the floor load? Shouldn't all floors inside a house be structural sound? Is a brick paver floor acceptable? Forst heave may very well affect this as it is a screened in porch/3 season room no insulation.

Problem 3. There is another door from the 3 season room to the outside patio. This requires a landing on both sides. Those landings shall be properly supported and attached to the primary structure and potected from frost. But what is the point? The rest of the floor is going to heave anyways unless I can show that the brick paver floor requires protection of some sort.

Any thoughts?
 
Re: 3 season rooms & landings/floors

I don't believe you need a landing at the door from the house to the 3-season room. Although you describe that you have a floor there, (R311.4.3 requires a landing OR floor), this code section applies only to exterior doors. This is not an exterior door.

The brick paver floor needs to support 40 psf, and transfer the loads to the supporting structural elements (per R501.2). Since the supporting structural elements are only the fill, then I would only refer to R506.2 for this.
 
Re: 3 season rooms & landings/floors

It's an outdoor space.

If it had a dirt floor would there be an issue?

Why would bricks make any difference?

If a brick moves vertically due to frost, is there any damage to the structure?

It's not like they're building a footing out of bricks, is it?

Why interpret the code in the most restrictive way possible when there is no real hazard?
 
Re: 3 season rooms & landings/floors

rk - My initial thought is that you're overthinking this one.
 
Re: 3 season rooms & landings/floors

I agree. I overthought it. As I read and reread the code sections I am in agreement with everyone who posted.

Thanks.
 
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