Cellar door access

Just be careful and check. The fire code access may not exempt you from the DOB access requirement, if you have a boiler room.

hasibur.rahman07

in General Discussion 3 years and 10 months ago

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jjvghzgcbtzyfiyw | 3 years and 10 months ago

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Does anyone know the FDNY, DOB or other official requirements for needing the cellar doors to be able to open? I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere.

resident2 | 3 years and 10 months ago

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The cellar doors in the front of the building are supposed to be operable for the FDNY to get in, in case of Boiler fires etc. It is an Old code law from the times of solid fuel boilers: coal etc. But still relevant today if you have Gas/Oil boiler in the basement.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 3 years and 10 months ago

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What if you have a forced hot air furnace, rather than a boiler?

jjvghzgcbtzyfiyw | 3 years and 10 months ago

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It’s funny – after I posted this, my husband called the FDNY and talked to an inspector who said there’s nothing in the code that requires access. Then I talked to the owner of a company that installs cellar doors and he said the same. He said there is nothing in the DOB code or FDNY code requiring access to coal chutes/cellars. He said it’s entirely up to the owner whether you want to be able to access it with doors, or seal it forever.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 3 years and 10 months ago

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So, another urban myth bites the dust. And here I thought I was a scofflaw with my padlock 🙂

resident2 | 3 years and 10 months ago

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About 5 years ago I submitted plans for a 4 family house, the cellar access & the handicapped access did not both fit in the front yard. We submitted plans with the handicapped access & closing off the cellar access. The plans were not acceptable. DOB Needed both.
We changed plans, made it a two family. No handicapped access required.

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 10 months ago

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My architect told me it is required by the DOB. He said I cannot seal it up. Doesn’t have anything to do with FDNY.

hasibur.rahman07 | 3 years and 10 months ago

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DOB Code that may be relevant though always ask an architect or expediter.

§[C26-704.6] 27-423 Exit requirements. –
In every room containing a boiler, furnace, or incinerator, the maximum travel distance from any point within the room to an exit shall not exceed fifty feet. When two or more exits are so required, only the main exit shall comply with the size and construction requirements of subchapter six of this chapter. The other exit or exits may be noncombustible ladders or stairs leading to exit openings not less than thirty-two inches by forty-eight inches

§[C26-401.2] 27-292 Building access.
SUBARTICLE 1 FIRE DEPARTMENT ACCESS
(b) Below grade. – Access shall be provided directly from the outdoors to the first basement or cellar story below grade, except as provided in paragraphs two, three and four of this subdivision, within each one hundred feet or fraction thereof of horizontal length of every wall that fronts on a street or frontage space. Such access shall be by stairs, doors, windows or other means that provide an opening forty-eight inches high and thirt y-two inches wide, the sill of which shall not be higher than thirty-six inches above the inside floor. If an areaway is used to provide below grade access, the minimum horizontal dimension shall be at least one- third the depth of the areaway or six feet whichever is less.

(1) Access to additional stories below grade is not mandatory since they are required to be sprinklered as provided in subdivision k of section 27-954 of article four of subchapter seventeen of this chapter.
(2) One- and two-family dwellings need not provide direct access.
(3) Any building classified in occupancy group J-2 not more than three stories in height and with not more than two dwelling units on any story need not provide direct access when such first basement or cellar story is used for dwelling units or for uses accessory to the residential use in the building.
(4) Except as provided in paragraph three of this subdivision, for buildings classified in occupancy group J-1 or J-2 only one direct access from the outdoors to the first basement or cellar story consisting of a stair or door shall be required when such story is used for dwelling units or for uses accessory to the residential use in the building.

jjvghzgcbtzyfiyw | 3 years and 10 months ago

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Thanks. It’s a 2-family, so I think it’s covered by (2) – no direct access needed.