Door maneuvering clearance not required at stairway doors?

[nealderidder]

I'm doing some code spelunking because I have a door at a landing on an exterior stairway that doesn't quite meet the 5' clear door maneuvering clearance. It's close but the handrail protrudes into the clear floor space a few inches. I'm reviewing shop drawings and looking for adjustments to provide that 5' clearance.

And then I run across CBC 11B-207.1 Exception #4: Doors that provide access only to interior or exterior stairways shall not be required to comply with 11B-404.

How have I missed this? I don't need to provide door maneuvering clearances at stairway doors?

 

[JPohling]

Added in 2022. Seems a little crazy right............ but that is how I read it too. Often times there are issues with existing door clearances from the stair side if you would reenter the space but I typically do not tag those as I view the door as an exit only condition. I do perhaps go above and beyond the 2022 code and tag clearance issues when entering the stair.

 

[Sifu]

Recent discussion:

Thread 'Maneuvering clearance'

Nov 4, 2024

2021 IBC, 20017 ANSI 117.1: Given a door to an interior exit stair from a story. The stair is not an accessible means of egress. Is a maneuvering clearance required from inside the stair back onto the floor?

Same question if it is an accessible means of egress.

• Sifu
• Replies: 28
• Forum: Accessibility Codes

 

[nealderidder]

Recent discussion:

Thread 'Maneuvering clearance'

Nov 4, 2024

2021 IBC, 20017 ANSI 117.1: Given a door to an interior exit stair from a story. The stair is not an accessible means of egress. Is a maneuvering clearance required from inside the stair back onto the floor?

Same question if it is an accessible means of egress.

• Sifu
• Replies: 28
• Forum: Accessibility Codes

Thanks SIFU, interesting reading. Looks like the exception I listed is a CA thing. So the conclusions in that thread don't apply. The CBC flat out states that stairway doors don't need maneuvering clearance (the bolded excerpt above in my first post).

 

[icatalyst]

Neal, J Pohling and others:
That Exception was not _added_ in the 2022 CBC. It has always been there, but few noticed it because it was under Section 11B-206.4.1 on "Entrances and exterior ground floor exits." For example, here is a screenshot from the original 2019 CBC:



When the DSA proposed relocating the Exception to Section 11B-207, they stated in their Initial Statement of Reasons (ISOR) that they were merely moving the provisions, not changing their meaning or intent:

Despite whiny blowback from a particularly overzealous but grievously mistaken CASP (whom my firm had the misfortune of working with on a UC project), the DSA stuck to its guns and the provision was adopted. So if you have any public accommodation project under a code earlier than the 2022 CBC, the Exception would still apply to exit only stair doors.