Is An Attached Garage Requyired To Have An Exterior Door

In the garage there are two door types.

Is an attached garage requyired to have an exterior door.

Fires that begin in attached garages are more likely to spread to living areas than fires that originate in detached garages. Because garages inherently have a greater risk of fires cars engines etc there can t be any openings between the garage and the dwelling door or window unless they re sealed with a fireproof door or barrier. Their entry beneath a door. Doors between garages and houses or dwelling units 1 a door between an attached or built in garage and a dwelling unit shall be tight fitting and weatherstripped to provide an effective barrier against the passage of gases and exhaust fumes and shall be fitted with a self closing device.

Then you have the door that goes from inside the garage to inside the house this door is special and it s called a fire door. An attached garage is a garage that is physically attached to a house. No weatherstripping is required for entry doors. Fire doors are equipped with self.

We recommend that the door between garage and residence should be equipped with a self closing device although no longer required by the irc and fbc. While not required by the irc it is helpful if there is at least one step leading up to the door from the garage. Walls and ceiling the wall between an attached garage and the house living area is required to be minimum 1 2 drywall. There are requirements for the walls and ceiling door to the house hvac ducts and any other garage house penetrations.

Because houses don t have firewalls it is. Not to be a killjoy because every town state is different but enclosing a car port to make a garage often won t meet building codes. One example of a problem area is the entry door between the garage and the residence. Most garages have a ceiling secured to the bottom chord of the roof.

I have an attached garage. Let s take them one at a time. For instance there are fire rated doors that have a 20 minute several hours rating and they can be selected to meet fire department code requirements for residential spaces check your condo or townhouse local building codes for any requirements of fire rated entry or house to garage doors. This door assembly is not specifically required to be fire rated.

One could make the argument that given the wording in irc 302 5 1 a fire rated door or its equivalent is required.