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I'm currently working on a large, multi-family apartment building that includes several-hundred dwelling units. The building is four stories tall and each story has multiple exits. The building is divided up by several fire walls for allowable area purposes, so the exits are a combination of exit stairs and horizontal exits. In a recent discussion, the AHJ indicated that he thought Emergency Escape and Rescue Openings complying with IBC 1030 were required for each bedroom in the building. On past projects, I have not seen this required in buildings where each story has two or more exits, so I decided to do a deep dive into the code requirements.  An emergency escape opening, in this case from a basement bedroom. This project is under the 2015 IBC, but I have also included the 2018 language below, as this seems to further clarify the requirements.
In the 2015 language, the first sentence seems to indicate that for a Group R-2 occupancies, the emergency escape requirements apply when triggered by Table 1006.3.2(1) or 1006.3.2(2). As I described in a recent cheat sheet for single exits, these tables are allowances for having a single exit or access to a single exit from a story. In this case, every story has multiple exits, so the provisions of these tables do not apply. The 2018 IBC makes this even clearer. The AHJ on this project is pointing to the second sentence from the 2015 IBC 1030.1, stating that all sleeping rooms below the fourth story require the openings. The second paragraph from the 2018 IBC has similar language. In my opinion, the first sentence of IBC 1030.1 essentially functions as scoping language for the rest of the requirements. Since this project does not meet the conditions described in this scoping sentence, the rest of the requirements do not apply and the openings are not required. Emergency Escape and Rescue Openings: What Do You Think?In a Group R-2 building where each story has multiple exits, are emergency escape and rescue openings required?
Let me know your thoughts in the comment box!
3 Comments
4/23/2020 05:10:21 pm
Assuming you are referring to the 2015 Edition of the IBC, emergency escape openings would be required from sleeping rooms in the basement, even if the basement has two means of egress. What you did not show is the new Exception #4 added to the 2018 Edition that says such windows are not required in the basement only if the building is protected with a sprinkler system AND the basement has two means of egress or one means of egress and an escape opening. Whereas this was a technical change to the 2015 Edition, it would be my opinion that emergency escape openings are required by the 2015 Edition of the IBC.
Chris Campbell
4/24/2020 05:23:53 pm
Hi Bill, thanks for the comment! I think the 2015 code language could be worded in a much more clear manner to avoid some of the confusion. If you check out the 2015 commentary, it seems to indicate that the escape openings are only required in in stories with a single exit as allowed in the Tables in 1006.3.2. In any case, I would agree that the 2018 language makes things much clearer, particularly if the R-2 occupancy is sprinkler-protected and has two means of egress.
Brian Salyers
7/1/2020 03:41:48 pm
This is pretty useful to reference! In California codes, they modify this and do require escape windows for bedrooms even if you have multiple exits. Leave a Reply. |
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