After way too many hours of work, I'm excited to share this huge fire and smoke damper cheatsheet that goes through EVERY instance where the 2018 IBC requires a fire and smoke damper due to a wall/floor/ceiling penetration.

Delayed egress doors are one of the most commonly-used features in design situations where some level of access control is needed on the path of egress. Under normal conditions, delayed-egress doors are a deterrent to building occupants, limiting access through the door unless necessary for an emergency. During an emergency, the delay function will deactivate (whether upon loss of power, or sprinkler/fire alarm activation), effectively making the door a normal egress door.

Similar to the other cheatsheets I have put together, this one is motivated by numerous architect requests for clarification as to when a delayed egress door can be provided.

After countless requests from clients to verify if a particular system is required to be on emergency or standby power, I decided to write them all down in a single location. While IBC Chapter 27 does have a list of the required systems, I often find myself going to the separate sections referenced from 2702. This cheatsheet has already saved me some time...I'm hoping it does the same for you!

After getting some great feedback on the egress cheat sheet post, I have put together another cheat sheet. This time, we're looking at all the situations where the IBC allows you to have a single exit (or access to a single exit) from a room, space or story.

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For most architects and engineers who deal with life safety compliance on a regular basis, the main "distance" requirements in a building are quite familiar. Most folks in the life safety world can tell you that the common path limit for business occupancies is 100 feet or that the travel distance limit for assembly occupancies is 250 feet, without needing to refer to the code.

But I've also found that certain occupancies are less common in my day to day project work (do you know the Group H-5 travel distance limit off the top of your head)?? So whether you're just starting out in the world of life safety or you've been doing it for years, hopefully you find this cheat sheet helpful!

Thoughts? Suggested additions? Leave a comment below!