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Exit Quantities and Widths

E

ERICN

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May 3, 2019
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I have a single floor building, Occ. load of 250. A total of three exit doors are available, however two of the exit doors are within 15' of each other. I am required to have 50" of clear door width for the building. Do you divide that 50" between all three doors or just two?
 
Without a floor plan hard to say

And occupancy type

I would say only two needed

Seperate the two by either 1/2 or 1/3
Depending on if Building is sprinkled
 
A minimum door width of 36" typically provides a clear opening width of 34". So two doors would satisfy your exit width requirements. These doors need to be separated properly.
 
The 50 inches can be divided among the three exits, but no single exit can have a width less than 32 inches clear. Thus, a minimum exit capacity of 96 inches would be provided.
 
Last edited:
Per NFPA 101, no single exit can account for more than 50% of the required exit capacity. Without knowing the overall size of the space, with only 15' between 2 of the 3 doors, it may be best to provide at least 50% of the egress capacity out of the 3rd door. (Which should already be met if the door meets the minimum 32-inch clear opening, as it would have a capacity of 165, unless it's a stair-limited exit.)
 
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