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EXIT ACCESS STAIRS 2

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nealderidder

Sawhorse
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
394
Location
Sacramento, CA
I posted a recent thread about this but it died out before I got a satisfying answer and I'm not ready to let it go :)

I'll try to be more succinct this time around. Attached is a proposed Exit Access Stairway (EAS). Do you see any code issues with this proposed stair? Assume the building is fully sprinkled and not a high-rise.

In the last thread Yikes commented that I couldn't atmospherically connect more than two floors. One of the exceptions in 1019 (CBC) that allows an open exit access stair lists this criteria but it is only one of the listed exceptions. Is there some other relevant code reference Yikes?

1006.3 (CBC) is often pointed out as the section that wouldn't allow an EAS to pass through more than one story. But with the two interior exit stairs there are "exits' on every floor and someone using the EAS has the option of using them, they are not forced to pass through more than one story to get to an exit.

Look forward to everyone's input.
 

Attachments

  • EAS BLDG Section & Plan.pdf
    61.7 KB · Views: 7
My opinion is the same as yours. I have been in this topic a lot, and I simply haven't come to any other conclusions than the one you came up with. I can't see my way to prohibiting a condition that seems to be expressly permitted by 1019.3 #4. Now, because nothing is ever as easy as I would like, the commentary to 1019.3 muddies it up a little by saying that there are exceptions that would allow the exit access path to be all the way down the EAS for multiple levels, but they don't include #4. Then, the commentary "explains" #4 by saying "this allows for such an opening to extend the entire height of the building", for B & M occupancies. But, commentary aside, the language of the code itself seems to permit it when it is not a required MOE.

From the 2018 building code essential:
"If the exit access stairway cannot meet any of the conditions permitting the open stairway, it must be enclosed within a shaft enclosure". In your case it seems to meet one of the conditions.

I guess the only help I can provide is to agree again.
 
It has little or nothing to do with chapter 10 and the stairs and a lot to do with how fast a fire will spread when so many stories are open to each other and chapter 7. A fire on the first floor will kill people on the 5th before they get to the exit stairs.
 
bill1952 said:
It has little or nothing to do with chapter 10 and the stairs and a lot to do with how fast a fire will spread when so many stories are open to each other and chapter 7. A fire on the first floor will kill people on the 5th before they get to the exit stairs.
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Agreed this isn't really about stairs. It's about openings in the floors. CBC 711 addresses the continuity of floor assemblies and refers to CBC 712 for both fire rated and non-fire rated floor openings. CBC 712.1.12 tells me that vertical openings are allowed in accordance with section 1019. Which brings us back to chapter 10.

bill1952 - I understand the general objection to floor openings but I'm still not seeing anything in the code that disallows what I'm proposing in the sketch. Each opening for the EAS is limited in size and requires draft curtains and closely spaced sprinklers around the openings. Which makes me think some thought went into your concerns about fire spread and the extra measures were put into place to give those folks on the fifth floor time to get to the enclosed exit stairs.
 
Without looking, isn't it limited to 4 floors in IBC, fully sprinklered, draft stops, and closely spaced sprinklers, and only for a stair (since hard to display or store flammable products or materials on a stair). I don't know what California amends.
 
bill1952 said:
Without looking, isn't it limited to 4 floors in IBC, fully sprinklered, draft stops, and closely spaced sprinklers, and only for a stair (since hard to display or store flammable products or materials on a stair). I don't know what California amends.
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In both the CBC and IBC it's limited to 4 floors for uses other than B or M and no limit is given for B or M. There are no CA amendments to the exceptions of 1019.3
 
nealderidder said:
In both the CBC and IBC it's limited to 4 floors for uses other than B or M and no limit is given for B or M. There are no CA amendments to the exceptions of 1019.3
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Actually that not really accurate. I should have said there are no substantive amendments. CA adds some other Residential classifications to Exception 2 and includes an exception for transit stations.
 
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