alena23
Registered User
We are an apartment complex that consists of a 24-floor high rise portion flanked on both the west and east side by 3 story buildings. The East adjoining building is separated by two sets of doors that are accessible to the lobby of the 24-story high rise. The first floor of the East building consists of 9 apartments that all open directly to a courtyard. There is no public way access from the individual apartments or from the courtyard. The courtyard at times is used for events - meetings, socials, gatherings, etc. Within this complex is an elevator, and two staircases. Only one staircase leads to the ground level which then leads to a public way. The other staircase, starts on the first floor, and only goes up three levels, not down. There are two horizontal sliding doors that lead to/from the first floor (lobby level) of the high rise. The occupant load of this lobby area is much higher as it also contains assembly areas in the form of dining room and a multi-purpose theater.
My question is, which way should the horizonal door breakout? Towards the lobby/Tower? or Into the East building. It is my understanding that when you have a building with two different occupant loads, you shall consider the egress path as that which the larger number occupies and would follow. However, if we followed this path, it would lead people from the Lobby area into the East building and dead end into a courtyard and NOT a public path. FYI, There are 4 other areas in the lobby which would lead into a public way, and three additional areas from the dining room, directly to a public way. It would seem NOT feasible, that people would past these exits to go the far end of the lobby and head out into the East building.
Wouldn't it make more sense that the path of egress would be from the East Building going into the lobby and not the other way around? I know that we are talking about a few people, however, if there is a power failure these residents would NOT be able to breakout from either door and would only have one staircase from which to egress. h FYI, the horizontal doors were recently added this year and they lead from the lobby of the high rise into the East building. This came to my attention because someone pushed open the horizontal exit door, only to discover that the door does not fully open because it catches on the uneven concrete floor of the courtyard. Before I grind down the flooringI wanted to see if perhaps the doors are laid out wrong.
Thank you.
My question is, which way should the horizonal door breakout? Towards the lobby/Tower? or Into the East building. It is my understanding that when you have a building with two different occupant loads, you shall consider the egress path as that which the larger number occupies and would follow. However, if we followed this path, it would lead people from the Lobby area into the East building and dead end into a courtyard and NOT a public path. FYI, There are 4 other areas in the lobby which would lead into a public way, and three additional areas from the dining room, directly to a public way. It would seem NOT feasible, that people would past these exits to go the far end of the lobby and head out into the East building.
Wouldn't it make more sense that the path of egress would be from the East Building going into the lobby and not the other way around? I know that we are talking about a few people, however, if there is a power failure these residents would NOT be able to breakout from either door and would only have one staircase from which to egress. h FYI, the horizontal doors were recently added this year and they lead from the lobby of the high rise into the East building. This came to my attention because someone pushed open the horizontal exit door, only to discover that the door does not fully open because it catches on the uneven concrete floor of the courtyard. Before I grind down the flooringI wanted to see if perhaps the doors are laid out wrong.
- Do I need to have the Fire Marshal review this plan/set-up? Or am I just "inviting trouble?" My boss's words, not mine.
- Do I need to add signage NOT AN EXIT, to the stairs that do not go down to the ground level? (Currently the sign ONLY states that it has roof access, however, this is NOT an exit route as we keep the roof hatches locked.
- Do the horizontal sliding doors need to be fire rated? The buildings were built in 1969. Our insurance adjuster seemed to think so, but I could not find any fire labels on the doors or the frames.
Thank you.