Requirement for Basement Rec Room Stairs
Hi, Can anyone point me in the direction of easy-to-understand requirements for a staircase leading from a first floor apartment to a basement rec room. We live on the first floor of a 4-family building and incorporated the basement into our apartment as a recreational area. In addition to the flight of stairs from the…
Hi,
Can anyone point me in the direction of easy-to-understand requirements for a staircase leading from a first floor apartment to a basement rec room. We live on the first floor of a 4-family building and incorporated the basement into our apartment as a recreational area. In addition to the flight of stairs from the first floor to the basement, one can also exit the basement through a sliding door into the backyard, and through a door at the front that exits to the sidewalk. Primarily I’m trying to figure out if the staircase has to be enclosed (I take this to be walled-in) or can have ballusters, if a door is required at the top or bottom of the stairs (I came across something in the code that seemed to imply this), and required dimensions (stair width, tread height, etc.). Thanks in advance – the DOB doesn’t make it easy to figure this stuff out!
What I have seen approved in your situation is open stairs, (no enclosure),but they will never go for a stair that does not meet the child safety sizing.
It’s the latter case – the mechanical room is located in a small public space at the front of the building which can be accessed via the door under the stoop, or by going through our space and through a door, i.e., there are two entrances to the public space. The stair is only for connecting our 1st floor apartment to the basement recreational area.
Charlie,
Are we talking a 2nd internal stair in addition to a public hallway down to mechanical room?
Or is the access to a front mech room under the stoop and we are talking about the only stair between your floors, entirely within your unit?
Thanks for the response brucef. The basement is actually divided into a front common area where the mechanical room, in an appropriately built separate room, is located, and our rec area, with a steel door separating the two spaces.
The other thing I was wondering was whether the design of the staircase would be restricted in any way (other than the steel materials and safety requirements). For example, is an open or floating staircase permitted in this case? Must we still design the treads in a way that a 4″ sphere can’t pass between?
One architect friend’s opinion was that the stair design could be pretty liberal because there were already two means of egress from the basement, i.e., through doors to the backyard and via the front. Though I wonder if the DOB might discount the front exit as an egress because you have to go through two doors (the door separating our space from the common space, and the outside door under the stoop) to get to the sidewalk?
Any further thoughts are much appreciated!
Seeing as no one with more accurate knowledge has answered you, I will share some considerations.
Your building is subject to multifamily regulations.
Most of the requirements for fire-retardant/resistant walls is triggered by separating units, not within a unit.
Separate requirements apply for a mechanical room that contains boilers etc, that it be masonry with self closing door, and outside air intake.
You don’t mention if this applies to your lower floor.
An existing stair is usually OK, but they want steel on anything new. Once again the 5/8″ drywall enclosures trigger when you are common hallway/space versus dwelling unit, or between dwelling units.