Code Issues? Basement Door and Stairway
I have a one story brick building – residential, 1 family. We have an open stairway to the basement at the bottom of which is a door to the basement. The bottom of the stairway is enclosed. I want to remove the door and the enclosure under the stairway. This would open up that area…
I have a one story brick building – residential, 1 family.
We have an open stairway to the basement at the bottom of which is a door to the basement. The bottom of the stairway is enclosed. I want to remove the door and the enclosure under the stairway. This would open up that area which is currently not useable. The boiler is out in the open in the back of the cellar. Must I have a door on the cellar and the bottom stairway enclosed for code purposes? Again this is a 1 family home.
any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks Vinca-
There is no boiler enclosure – except for the door and bottom stairway enclosure. The boiler sits out in the open in the back of the basement. I want to remove the door and the cement block stair enclosure to open up that space – so that when you walk down from the open stairway upstairs you descend an open stairway into to the basement, no doors or walls. I’m trying to determine if in a single family home do you have to have an enclosed boiler.
Are you talking about a self-closing, steel fire door at the bottom of the stairs to your cellar? If so, that’s there for your protection so that your staircase does not act as a chimney in case of fire. Your post is not clear enough to understand whether the door and partition in question would be considered part of your boiler enclosure.
Thanks everyone for your responses – not sure I’m making much headway but It’s appreciated. My thought was that the door was there because of the boiler which sits openly in the basement – but I’m starting to sense that in a 1 family home that the door and the enclosure around the bottom of the stairs does not need to be there.
B.C 2008 Section: 1019.1.5 Enclosures under stairways. The walls and soffits
within enclosed usable spaces under enclosed and unenclosed
stairways shall be protected by 1-hour
fire-resistance-rated construction, or the fire-resistance rating
of the stairway enclosure, whichever is greater. Access
to the enclosed usable space shall not be directly from
within the stair enclosure.
Exception: Spaces under stairways serving and contained
within a single residential dwelling unit in Group
R-2 or R-3.
There shall be no enclosed usable space under exterior
exit stairways unless the space is completely enclosed in
1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction. The open space
under exterior stairways shall not be used for any purpose.
So far i only found for the public stairs – if you are talking ahout a in-house stair it should be different i guess.
MDL Sec. 244. Spaces under stairs.
In non-fireproof tenements erected after April twelfth, nineteen hundred one, no closet of any kind shall be constructed or maintained under any stair leading from the entrance story to the upper stories, and such space shall be kept entirely open and clear of any encumbrance.
Hmm… MDL stands for Multiple dwelling law, in this case whihc is only a 1 family it does not apply as far as i know.
Jcarch:
I will look up the MDL section and post it,
email me; i will get back to you.
No door under a staircase? Every house I’ve been in on this block has a door to the basement under the stairs to the parlor floor. They’re all illegal?
I’m actually not familiar with that requirement in the MDL (which doesn’t mean it isn’t there), but MDL doesn’t apply…OP says it’s a 1 family dwelling.
M stands for multiple.