Door Placement Code
I have a building code question. We are renovating our two family home. There is currently no divider wall between the two units. The front of the house has a main exterior door. Then the vestibule. Then an interior door. Then the hallway, with a stair leading up to the upper unit, and the rest…
I have a building code question. We are renovating our two family home. There is currently no divider wall between the two units. The front of the house has a main exterior door. Then the vestibule. Then an interior door. Then the hallway, with a stair leading up to the upper unit, and the rest of the hallway on the floor being part of the lower unit. We wanted to put up a divider wall to divide the two units in the house. The divider wall would be located at the foot of the stairs that lead up to the 3rd floor. We would install two doors into the divider wall, one opening up immediately to a stair case going up to the third floor, one opening up to the 2nd floor hallway. Is it a problem to put a doorway (that would open outwards towards you) right at the bottom of a stair case? It would be about 12 inches away from the bottom stair. The other alternative is to put the door at the top of the landing, which is about 3 feet square, then the staircase right after. The door would have to open inwards to the unit. I can’t find anything on placement of doors in relation to stairways.
Thoughts?
It’s a legal two family.
When people say I’ll need a landing, does that mean, a landing before the door? Or after the door?
I’ve definitely seen buildings where the door is at the top of the stairs. Never seen one where the door is at the bottom of the stairs, but I’m not sure why we couldn’t put it there. I guess I was wondering whether anyone knew of any restrictions why I couldn’t.
Thanks!
I rented a second floor apartment in a house that was a 1 to 2 family conversion with the door at the foot of the stair swinging out. It was fine and made my apartment feel bigger as the stair had a railing at the second floor and was not walled off, giving me visual space. If you go that route, 12″ is too far from the bottom of the stair for the door. When you’re coming down, you actually stand on the bottom step and open the door. 12″ is too far to reach but not enough to stand. You need a few inches to give you some space to fit – maybe 6″. My landlords door was perpendicular to mine in the added wall that separated their apartment from the entry hall.
The standard approach is to build a wall and door where the hall starts. One family uses the ground-floor entrance; the other family uses the parlor-floor entrance.
Why not just put one door in the divider wall for access to the 2nd floor of the lower unit.
This way the vestibule entrance is directly into the 3rd floor unit and the lower unit is accessed from the 1st floor.
As jcarch said, you’ll need a landing. Regardless of the C of O and as a matter of safety, I recommend a fire rated division – vertical and horizontal – between the two units. Ed Kopel Architects, PC
Two families don’t require fire escapes and/or sprinklers, as far as I remember the code; only 3 families or more, irregardless of whether there is a C of O or not. Most 3 storey buildings (one or two family) built before 1938 (?) do not have C of Os.
I’ve seen many, many buildings with this setup installed. I’d just go ahead and put it up if it was me.
You’ll need to have a landing, whose depth is at least equal to the width of the staircase.
Does your building have a C of O for a two family, or is it a one family that’s been used as a two family?
If you don’t have either a fire escape for the upper unit, or sprinklers in the stair hall, then you’re probably a one family.
If you’re a one family in the eyes of the city, you’ll need to get a new C of O, which will likely mean other areas of the building may require work to obtain city approvals.