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Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

LGreene

LGreene

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Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
1,166
Location
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
I received this plan from an architect, who was hoping that as a hardware consultant I'd be able to tell him whether this design would be acceptable. I've never seen anything like this and my gut reaction is that it's not acceptable, but my area of expertise is more focused on hardware. It is a 6-story building, and on several floors they want to use a Won-Door as one wall of the stairwell (the Won-Door closes on fire alarm and is also an egress door). On the other stair they want to use a roll-down door that closes on fire alarm but the means of egress is not through the roll-down door. Initially he was asking me about whether these products will work with a pressurized stair, but I think if they were ok to use in this application I would have seen them before. What do you think? And specifically, what can I point to in the code?

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Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

Is this a high rise building??

Not sure if a won door is rated for use as a stair enlosure. That is a new one.

I do not think I would approve a roll down door to help achieve a stair enlosure rating. To much trouble with assuring the door will drop, are you going to get a goos seal at the bottom???

I think my answer would be no to both set ups.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

not sure if 707.7.1 would be the section that would not allow the rool down door.

707.3 Materials. The shaft enclosure shall be of materials permitted by the build ing type of construction.

707.5 Con ti nu ity. Shaft en clo sure walls shall extend from the

top of the floor/ceiling assembly below to the underside of the

floor or roof slab or deck above and shall be securely attached

thereto. These walls shall be continuous through concealed

spaces such as the space above a suspended ceiling. The supporting construction shall be protected to afford the required

fire-resistance rating of the element supported. Hollow vertical

spaces within the shaft enclosure construction wall shall be

firestopped at every floor level.

707.7 Openings. Openings in a shaft enclosure shall be protected in ac cor dance with Sec tion 715 as required for fire barriers.

Such open ings shall be self-closing or automatic-closing

by smoke detection.

707.7.1 Pro hibited openings. Openings other than those

necessary for the purpose of the shaft shall not be permitted

in shaft enclosures.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

Won-Door has systems for both door and wall enclosures. The system will work if the type of system used is tested and labeled for compliance as a movable wall.

They just recently discussed at the code hearings the desire to increase the reliability by requiring the motor to be labeled as well. Although it was recommended for disapproval by the committee, the testimony included the discussion about how these systems are used for exit enclosures.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

Interesting, but seems like they are streching it compared to having a solid wall
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

Exceptions: 5,6,& 7.

5. In other than Group H occupancies, revolving

doors complying with Section 1008.1.3.1.

6. In other than Group H occupancies, horizontal

sliding doors complying with Section 1008.1.3.3

are permitted in a means of egress.

7. Power-operated doors in accordance with Section

1008.1.3.2.

I assume that item 7 is what they are using.....

The real question, in the event of power failure, can a person that is physically impaired operate the manual overide without special effort, knowledge, or key.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

I agree. I neglected to carry my thought out beyond what I posted to include the exception, but I would have to guess it doesn't meet the requirements of Exception 7.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

Actually, its exception #6 that applies to the Won-Door system.

Like I said earlier, they have systems taht are tested using ASTM E119 as well as using NFPA 252. There is nothing in the door section that will apply to their E119 system except for the ability to create an opening for use as a means of egress.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

One of the questions is can the won dor act in place of wall for for the exit stairway shaft????
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

The only way this might work in some jurisdictions is if the Won-Door extended from the floor slab to the underside of the floor slab above, and the floor slabs were of 2-hour rated construction. Otherwise I don't think it would meet the continuity requirement cda mentioned.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

There are two issues as I see it:

1. Can the rolling shutter act as a wall enclosure (image at left); and

2. Can the folding fire door close off the opening (image at right)?

In the image at the left, the fire "shutter" would need to meet the criteria for wall - ASTM E119 test. There would need to be sufficient reliability that the shutter woudl close under all conditions of power. Since only circulation doors can be used for exit enclosures, either the "shutter" is a wall or its not permitted. A side-hinged swinging door adjacent to it allows for egress. Reliability would need to be applied to the other image as well.

In the image at right, if the door complies with exception #6 then it complies as a door and can close off the opening as long as the door is rated for the size opening being protected. There is only one other minor issue that may or may not be an issue. Since the enclosure wall of the stair is a fire barrier, Section 706.7 limits the length of openings to 25% of the wall in which it is located. As shown, the opening is teh entire length of that wall. However, I'd advise caution on this approach since the typical 36 inch door in an 8 ft wide landing is also more than 25% of the length of that wall (38%). It may be better to address the 25% issue in regard to the total wall enclosure for the stair. Still, it's one more way of looking at compliance.

(btw: where's the spell checker for this BB????)
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

I don't see either as acceptable.

They're not walls and not necessary openings.

Fire shutters typically operate using fusable links.

Waiting for it to melt would still allow smoke to enter the stairwell and a considerable amount of heat to enter as well.

Activating it by magnetic hold assumes the full function of the alarm system.

That's fine for openings, but contrary to the idea of a wall.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

The answer from the ICC was that the roll-down door was larger than the 25% allowed by Section 706.7, and Section 1020.1.1 limits the openings to only those openings necessary for egress, so the extra opening (the roll-down door) would not be permitted.

For the stair with the proposed Won-Door, the ICC referenced the section that says that doors serving more than 50 persons must swing in the direction of an exit, so if the occupant load of that floor is more than 50, the Won-Door would not meet the requirements of an egress door. From the other replies it looks like the Won-Door has been tested to function as a 2-hour wall assembly, so if the occupant load was less than 50, I guess it would be ok to use. I haven't heard back from the manufacturer whether the door can meet the air leakage needs of a pressurized stair, but I think the architect has decided to go in a different direction at this point.

Thank you for all your help!!!

- Lori
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

not sure if icc stated correctly about won dor and not good for over 50 or more people.

would have to look at that one and think about it
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

This is from the 2009 edition so there are a couple of changes, but the requirement for a door to swing in the direction of egress travel when it's serving more than 50 occupants seems to override the exception for the use of a sliding door.

1008.1.2 Door swing. Egress doors shall be of the pivoted or side-hinged swinging type.

--Exceptions:

--1. Private garages, office areas, factory and storage areas with an occupant load of 10 or less.

--2. Group I-3 occupancies used as a place of detention.

--3. Critical or intensive care patient rooms within suites of health care facilities.

--4. Doors within or serving a single dwelling unit in Groups R-2 and R-3.

--5. In other than Group H occupancies, revolving doors complying with Section 1008.1.4.1.

--6. In other than Group H occupancies, horizontal sliding doors complying with Section 1008.1.4.3 are permitted in a means of egress.

--7. Power-operated doors in accordance with Section 1008.1.4.2.

--8. Doors serving a bathroom within an individual sleeping unit in Group R-1.

--9. In other than Group H occupancies, manually operated horizontal sliding doors are permitted in a means of egress from spaces with an occupant load of 10 or less.

Doors shall swing in the direction of egress travel where serving an occupant load of 50 or more persons or a Group H occupancy.
 
Re: Won-Door as Exit Enclosure?

forgot and do not have the book, but won dor is not a ::

In other than Group H occupancies, horizontal sliding doors complying with Section 1008.1.4.3 are permitted in a means of egress. or

--7. Power-operated doors in accordance with Section 1008.1.4.2.
 
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