Can an exit access door also be an entry door? 1023.4

[Yikes]

We have a plan checker telling us that a dwelling unit cannot have its entry door located within an exit stairwell. See his reasoning in the plan check comment below.
He does not dispute that the dwelling unit is a normally occupied space. He's saying that an exit access door should not also be an entry door, for purposes of CBC/IBC 1023.4
He's basically saying that foot traffic in an exit stairwell should only be for one purpose/direction: for egress.

I think that if a door is required for exit access, then it meets the criteria of 1023.4. The fact that it also does double-duty as an entry door causes no conflict or noncompliance with CBC 1023.4. The door's function as an an entry does not in any way lessen its necessity to function as an exit access dor.

Who is right?

 

[RLGA]

Although not ideal, I think technically, you are correct.

Section 1023.1 states, in part, "[a]n interior exit stairway or ramp shall not be used for any purpose other than as a means of egress and a circulation path."

There is nothing in the code that requires that stairs be accessed from corridors or exit passageways. Per the IBC Code and Commentary, the intent of Section 1023.4 is to prohibit unoccupied spaces (e.g., storage closets, toilet rooms, electrical/mechanical equipment rooms, and janitorial closets).

However, the door between the dwelling unit and the stairway is not an exit access door--it is an exit door and would be required to comply with the opening protection requirements of any other doorway into the enclosure.

 

[steveray]

The plan checker is dumb....Almost every exit access door is also an access door....We just care more about going than coming.....Typically

 

[Yikes]

The plan checker is dumb....Almost every exit access door is also an access door....We just care more about going than coming.....Typically

Yes.
An exit access door can be "exit only, no entry, and no-re-entry".
But an exit access door can also be an entry access door. Using it as an entry does not cause the door to cease its ability to function as an exit access.

 

[steveray]

Is it the opposite of a roach motel? You can get out, but you can't get in?

 

[ADAguy]

Egress door must swing "out", not in.

 

[Yikes]

Egress door must swing "out", not in.

Not always - - see IBC/CBC 1010.1.2.1.

 

[redeyedfly]

Egress door must swing "out", not in.

When's the last time you saw a unit entry (or hotel room) door swing out into the corridor?