jar546
CBO
Should an egress door be required from all garages governed under the IRC?
-
Welcome to The Building Code Forum
Your premier resource for building code knowledge.
This forum remains free to the public thanks to the generous support of our Sawhorse Members and Corporate Sponsors. Their contributions help keep this community thriving and accessible.
Want enhanced access to expert discussions and exclusive features? Learn more about the benefits here.
Ready to upgrade? Log in and upgrade now.
Egress Door From Garage
- Thread starter jar546
- Start date
Yankee Chronicler
REGISTERED
Attached?
I'm going to answer "No." The IRC requires a single-family residence to have "a" main exit door. (R311 - "Not less than one egress door shall be provided for each dwelling unit.") There's nothing in R309 (Garages) about an egress door.
I'm going to answer "No." The IRC requires a single-family residence to have "a" main exit door. (R311 - "Not less than one egress door shall be provided for each dwelling unit.") There's nothing in R309 (Garages) about an egress door.
TheCommish
SAWHORSE
Why the garage is filed with stuff most of the time and you access to the door would be impleaded
Good point! Even more troubling, as a General Contractor in the South Florida region, I have been in many single family residences where the attached garage is illegally converted to living space (rental) and completely "cutoff" from the rest of the residence. These conversions have quadruple in the past 5-years due to the increase in house prices, the high increase in the population and the need for affordable housing (rental).
==========================================================================================
R311.1
Dwellings shall be provided with a means of egress in accordance with this section. The means of egress shall provide a continuous and unobstructed path of vertical and horizontal egress travel from all portions of the dwelling to the required egress door without requiring travel through a garage. The required egress door shall open directly into a public way or to a yard or court that opens to a public way.R311.2
Not less than one egress door shall be provided for each dwelling unit. The egress door shall be side-hinged, and shall provide a clear width of not less than 32 inches (813 mm) where measured between the face of the door and the stop, with the door open 90 degrees (1.57 rad). The clear height of the door opening shall be not less than 78 inches (1981 mm) in height measured from the top of the threshold to the bottom of the stop. Other doors shall not be required to comply with these minimum dimensions. Egress doors shall be readily openable from inside the dwelling without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort.
Last edited:
jar546
CBO
My personal opinion is that yes, at least one man door should be present on the exterior. I think it makes sense, would be convenient, and many garages are already built that way anyway. However, I don't see this as a future code requirement. It is just a thought to discuss here on The Building Code Forum.
Yankee Chronicler
REGISTERED
I think it's a good idea. My attached garage has a man door, and my detached garage has a man door.
On the other hand, under the IBC an overhead garage door is allowed to be used as a required exit door for occupant loads of 10 or fewer (or maybe it's under 10 -- I don't remember). So if the IBC allows a garage door as an exit door, should the IRC be different?
It is a good idea that should never become a requirement.
tmurray
SAWHORSE
I am in this camp too.
In Canada we had a lot of things that were simply "market" requirements, meaning they were in the code because it would be hard to sell a house without that amenity. Good example was the code required a door on a bathroom. When we applied an objective framework to our code, provisions that we could not tie a safety, health, fire, or structural objective to were dropped.
On the other side, if the objective is to enable garages to become dwelling units in the future, elements that are expensive to retrofit should be considered at the time of construction, but this goes beyond simply including a man door.