Went to my credit union today and one of the exterior doors swings in. I thought all doors had to swing out due to fire codes. I have seen this at a bagel shop too. I am in NC if it matters but I think fire codes are pretty much the same in all states.
NFPA 101 requires the swinging doors to open in the direction of egress travel under any of four conditions: One, when the door serves a room or area with an occupant load of 50 or more persons; Two, when the door is used in an exit enclosure (such as the door into an enclosed exit stair); Three, when the door serves a high hazard contents area; and Four, when the door is in a horizontal exit. If none of the four conditions applies, then the door is permitted to swing back into the room or space.
There’s also the possibility that the door in question is not, in fact, in compliance with the fire code. Violations are not completely unheard of.
Looking very quickly, I can’t find the code, but I thought there was an exception that allowed the door to swing in if swinging out would cause a hazard to other people. For example, the door was right up against a street or sidewalk and would be opening into people walking by.
It’s possible that the exception to the rule when the occupancy load is under 50, is changed for some local or state code I was reading and this exception was added.
I’m seeing IBC 3202.2, which states that a door (as well as other things) can’t open into the public right of way. I don’t know if that allows a door to open in (even if it’s just in some circumstances) or requires them to recess the door so it can swing out but not encroach on the public ROW.
This is why there’s so many forums dedicated to sorting out code and why people get annoyed when inspectors interpret things differently that they do.
Not to be a nitpicker, but NFPA 101 does not apply in NC. We would refer to their amended versions and editions of the IBC.
From NC State Building Code: Building Code (2012) 1008.1.2:
Doors shall swing in the direction of egress travel where serving an occupant load of 50 or more persons or a Group
H occupancy.
For a small store with less than 3000 square feet (gross), inward swinging doors are permitted.
A bank may be considered a Business occupancy, in which case up to 5000 square feet is permitted.
IANA.
I think the bagel shop holds around 50 people. The credit union branch is small , probably under 5000 square feet.
It doesn’t matter how many people the shop appears to hold. Occupancy load is calculated (for Business and Mercantile occupancy classifications) on square footage. When you see a sign that says “Occupancy by more than XX persons is not…” then you know the official occupancy load.
I’ve seen store owners block off an area with walls to bring their square footage down by just a few feet in order to keep from having to change door swing or provide special egress hardware.
is it cheaper to have a door swing in when the place is built? If not then I don’t see why to do that even in a small place.
As was mentioned earlier, we try to keep doors from swinging into the path of travel of a pedestrian or cyclist. For a small store or office, swinging inwards is permitted and solves the problem. If it’s a renovation of an older building, door replacement might be an unnecessary expense that the owner can avoid.
Another issue that sometimes pops up is door width. Egress capacity is a design consideration and there must be a minimum total egress width for the path of egress and for egress doors. I’ve often seen doors that had to be replaced with wider doors or double doors because the occupancy load required an additional couple inches of egress width. Again, if the owner can reduce the square footage slightly and avoid this, it may be worthwhile.
I’ve actually encountered handicap “accessible” restroom stalls that had doors that swung inward. “Accessible” is in quotes because these stalls were anything but accessible to someone using a wheelchair.
Is it possible this building has not been remodeled since original construction and is grandfathered in?
Touring a cemetery in Cleveland Ohio, there was either a mass grave, or a section of individual graves of children who died in a school fire quite some time ago. That fire caused local building code changes, but I believe it was the casino fire in Vegas (within the last twenty or so years) which caused all those asphyxiation deaths that spurred the national changes to building codes that doors must swing in direction of egress. It also addressed penetrations through demising walls and fire proof caulking and the like.
On the topic of fire egress, but not pertaining to the OP, I also know of a building built on three (3) zero property lines with a narrow front. The new owner wanted an office/showroom in front and manufacturing space behind that. The total occupancy created a situation that called for two (2) fire exits a certain distance apart that was wider than the entire front of the building (the only place where an exit was possible). The architect solved the problem by building a fire corridor with a fire door on each end if it through the middle of the building until the separation of exits distance was achieved. For someone back in the industrial space, they could either exit through the fire door in the area separation, or go back toward the rear of the building and exit through the fire corridor.
I mention this because in school, door swing seemed most important in stairwells and corridors. Well, not exactly—I guess I mean to say egress was a cake walk in a single story, single occupancy situation. It only required attention in more complex situations which involved fire curtains and doors with fire switches and safe refuge for access challenged individuals who could obviously not take elevators down several flights for egress. A bagel shop, or a bank lobby were supposed to be easy applications of the codes; that’s why I believe the door swing was determined before the code was written. The issue with outside pedestrian traffic can be easily solved by creating a recess slightly deeper than the swing of any door it contains.