2 Means of Egress to Street for Multiple Dwelling

No problem. Also, I realize I was focusing on your question about the sprinklers, so I didn’t consider the fire escape. The fire escape is one means of egress and the main stair is another. Depending upon your extension, you may be able to keep part of the fire escape and/or recreate the parts you remove for the extension. This would allow you to keep using it as a means of egress. In this case, you would not need to sprinkler the building.

jimhillra

in General Discussion 5 years and 8 months ago

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Guest User | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Situation: 3 story + basement rowhouse in landmarked district within Brooklyn, attached on both sides. Legal 3 Family, previously enlarged roughly 20 years ago. Hoping to add to current extension and do a gut renovation, but am being told that code requires two means of egress to the street. There is currently a fire escape to rear yard with no egress to the street.

Question: Are there are any nuances to the code that would allow me to get around having two means of egress to the street whether that be sprinkling the entire building, etc?

MDR | 5 years and 9 months ago

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I don’t think that is the case at all. All the typical 3-family row houses have one exit to the street – straight down the stoop. Often the garden apartment has an exit under the stoop but that is not a second exit for the upper apartments. A three-family must have a public stair that provides access to the roof. Typically at the top landing there is a steel ladder that provides access to the roof hatch. That could possibly be used for someone fleeing a fire but the requirement is mainly for firefighters to get to the roof. Older 3-families have fire escapes – allowing a second way to get to the ground or the roof. If the building has sprinklers in the public halls and stairs then the exterior fire escape is not required.

resident2 | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Consult an Architect that specializes in Historic Row houses.
It sounds like you are working with someone who is learning as they get a client. Sorry.

jimhillra | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Two means of egress from every level is required by the NY State Multiple Dwelling Law, which would apply here because you are more than 2 families. Most old rowhouses that were converted (legally) to 3 families and up have sprinklers in the hall, which was allowed until relatively recently, and would have eliminated the need for a second means of egress. Sprinklering the whole building would allow you to have one mean egress by current code.

MDR | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Okay, if you are doing a gut renovation then you could be held to a different standard than what was done in the past. So it is likely that fully sprinkling the building will be required and if you do that – as Jim Hill says – it may eliminate the need for a second means of egress.

Guest User | 5 years and 8 months ago

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Thank you everyone for responding. Do you know where in the code that sprinkling the entire building is sufficient to remove the need for a second means of egress? I have read the code a few times and it is extremely confusing :(.

Thanks

jimhillra | 5 years and 8 months ago

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The Multiple Dwelling Law is divided into sections for different types of buildings. Article 6 regulates converted dwellings, which is what most multi-family brownstones/rowhouses are. Section 187 reads:

Sec. 187. Egress.
1. Except as provided in paragraph g of subdivision three of section one hundred seventy-one, egress from every apartment on each story shall be provided as follows:
a. If a dwelling is two stories or less in height, or if it is three stories including a basement in height and conforms to the conditions of subdivision four of section one hundred seventy-seven, a single means of egress from each story to the street shall be sufficient.
b. Every other dwelling shall have either two independent means of egress or one means of egress equipped with a sprinkler system.

Keep in mind that a basement is different than a cellar, the latter being more than 50% below grade. Usually, the garden level of a brownstone is a basement.

In addition to that, the 1968 NYC Building code states it several different ways in Subchapter 6, section 27-366 Exits from floors.

Guest User | 5 years and 8 months ago

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Thank you jimhillra, I really appreciate.