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Door swing direction

R

Robert

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Jan 29, 2016
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Pinole, CA
I have an existing Assembly space with OL greater than 49. The 2 exits from that space swing in the direction of egress into 2 opposite corridors. Am I correct in the resulting OL in each corridor is 1/2 of the Assembly OL? And if so, the resulting OL in each corridor would be less than 50, then do the corridor doors still need to swing in the direction of egress? The client wants to add a door in the existing corridor, and client would prefer it to swing opposite of egress travel because of some existing layout issues. Thank you.
 
No

Unless you can get half the people to go to one door

And the other half to the other door
 
I'm revisiting this (with posted image). Do these two new doors in the corridor need to swing toward egress (as drawn) and do they need panic hardware? It seems that all 54 occupants from the assembly area would exit through either of the two exterior exits (rather than down the corridor). The occupants in the corridor would come from the offices and only account for an OL of 16 or so. What do you think?
 

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Doors are requested by the owner for privacy reasons between certain offices and public/private separation at the entry. I can't see a scenario where the 54 occupants would ever backtrack down this corridor after exiting the assembly space (pretty much running past the exit), but if they are required by code to handle that load then I will certainly oblige.
 
Robert said:
Doors are requested by the owner for privacy reasons between certain offices and public/private separation at the entry. I can't see a scenario where the 54 occupants would ever backtrack down this corridor after exiting the assembly space (pretty much running past the exit), but if they are required by code to handle that load then I will certainly oblige.
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Without measurements on the plan, I would say still yes that panic hardware is required.

You are not creating dead end corridor issue are you??
 
O.K...thanks. Drawing is not to scale but we have about 26' (left to right) before the first door location, then another 25' to the next door. If we don't provide a latch or lock, I believe the doors will not need panic hardware. I'm waiting on owner input of their desire for locks. Doors still need to be fire rated though.
 
Robert said:
O.K...thanks. Drawing is not to scale but we have about 26' (left to right) before the first door location, then another 25' to the next door. If we don't provide a latch or lock, I believe the doors will not need panic hardware. I'm waiting on owner input of their desire for locks. Doors still need to be fire rated though.
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Doors still need to be fire rated though.


¿Que?
 
Looking at your sketch, the right hand door in that corridor obviously has to swing outward towards the exit. The one in the middle of that hallway is questionable as to which way it should swing. I could make an argument for either direction of swing.
 
Thanks. cda, building is type 5A (I did not sketch the whole plan which includes a second story).. According to table 716.5 (CBC) corridor fire partition, doors need to be 20 minute....unless I'm missing an exception somewhere? Regardless of how I swing the middle, I'm hearing that I need panic hardware to exit the 54 occupants from the assembly space, even though it does not seem to be a direct exit.
 
Robert said:
Thanks. cda, building is type 5A (I did not sketch the whole plan which includes a second story).. According to table 716.5 (CBC) corridor fire partition, doors need to be 20 minute....unless I'm missing an exception somewhere? Regardless of how I swing the middle, I'm hearing that I need panic hardware to exit the 54 occupants from the assembly space, even though it does not seem to be a direct exit.
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The doors across the corridor are not part of a rated wall
 
CORRIDOR. An enclosed exit access component that defines and provides a path of egress travel.

"The determination as to when a corridor exist is essentially left to the building official.

To provide for a greater degree of consistency some jurisdictions have established a set of guidelines that expand on the definition having four (4) common characteristics as regulated in the code.
1. A space formed by enclosing walls over 6 ft. in height.
2. Has a length to width greater than 3 to 1.
3. It's primary function is for the movement of occupants in the means of egress system, and
4. It has a length greater than permitted for a dead-end condition."
Ref. 2015 INC Handbook

The code requires panic hardware or fire exit hardware for doors serving an occupant load of 50 or more in a Group A or E.

Corridor (fire) doors shall be self- or automatic-closing. However the doors that serve Group B occupancy are permitted to have a lever lock set.
 
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Thanks Francis...the 4 attributes of a corridor you listed are helpful. I would consider this a corridor. It is flanked by B occupancy, however the Assembly space just around the corner is an A occupancy greater than 50, so It appears I need to design the doors to accommodate and exit all of the occupants (A and B).
 
I am getting conflicting information about some input here about the OL distribution among exits from a space. All of the resources I am reading are telling me the OL is distributed EQUALLY among exits. Per my original question, this means the 54 occupants in the assembly space are divided in half when sizing the two egress doors and corridors (for simplicity here I'm ignoring the office spaces). So my question now is, if the assembly space needed panic hardware because OL was greater than 50...do ALL of the doors on the MOE require panic hardware (even though the OL is now less than 50 in the corridors)? Thank you.
 
These are two separate provisions; 1. panic hardware that serve the assembly area and 2. MOE width.

1. All means of egress doors serving the Group A shall not be provided with a latch or lock other than panic or fire exit hardware.

2. Where there's more than one exit the means of egress capacity i.e size or width must be designed for at least 50 percent of two exits.
 
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Well if you can get the people in the room to agree to divide up and half go thorough one door and the other half go through the other door

I will agree

Till one door is blocked and all the people have to go through the same exit

Will have to see how it reads about 50% through main exit. Might only apply to main building exit,,,,,,
never mind that is when there are 300 or more ol
 
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