Swing of egress doors.. I just can't resist

[peach]

Went to do a close in inspection on Monday in a fairly new HIGH RISE office building.. got there about 530 am.. called the construction superintendent..

He came down to let me into the building... (he was inside the building)..

He PULLED the vestibule door in... then PULLED the exterior door in to let me in..

Dazed, I looked at him.. he said "yeah, I wondered about that"... went up, did the inspection, and promptly reported it as illegal construction (who inspected this thing)..

Yesterday, I had a project meeting kitty-corner from this building not at 530 and stood at the corner watching people entering the building.. Push.. not pull..

Stood there long enough to almost get a parking ticket.. amazed..

 

[High Desert]

A high rise would absolutely be required outswinging doors, except for the the one you were at.

 

[Yikes]

I assume this was not a super-tiny highrise with an occupant load of less than 50?

 

[peach]

Nope.. I got a call for the inspection contract, but we had like serious phone issues.. so we missed out on the contract.. damn..

LUCKY me.. I turned it over to the AHJ..

Still can't believe it..

 

[LGreene]

Wow. That's unbelievable.

 

[Gene Boecker]

Maybe they should put double acting hinges on the doors and let them swing both ways!

 

[High Desert]

I assume this was not a super-tiny highrise with an occupant load of less than 50?

A "super tiny" would be okay with those doors.

 

[righter101]

Advantage of egress configuration

The one issue that is not being discussed with the configuration of the door swing, is that in their present condition, the door can, quite literally, "hit you in the @$$ on the way out".

So when we often tell people to "don't let the door hit you in the @$$ on the way out", not only is an immediate invitation to leave but infact, likely if the door is configured properly.

 

[peach]

The reason I stood across the street the next day was to see if maybe the doors swung both ways during the day... thinking that when the building was normally unoccupied perhaps security only allowed the in-swing (or something like that)... apparently not the case.