BCAB #1316 - Door Swing at Dwelling Entry, Sentence 9.8.4.2.(1)

July 14, 1993

BCAB #1316

Re: Door Swing at Dwelling Entry, Sentence 9.8.4.2.(1)

Project Description

The project in question is a townhouse complex built over an underground parking garage. Each dwelling unit in the complex has an exterior entry door opening onto a central outdoor courtyard built on the concrete slab over the parking garage. As per normal practice the entry doors for each townhouse swing inward. In this project the exterior grade at the building face is six inches higher than the floors inside the townhouses so there is an eight inch step down from the top of the entry door threshold to the floor of the entry foyer.

Reason for Appeal

Sentence 9.8.4.2.(1) requires a door which swings toward a stair to have the full arc of its swing over a landing.

Appellant's Position

The appellant is reluctant to put a six to eight inch high landing inside the dwelling because he contends that this will create an unsafe single step within the dwelling. His experience indicates this type of shallow single step to be a hazard and he points out that A-3.3.1.15. in Appendix A of the 1992 B.C. Building Code supports this contention.

Building Official's Position

The building official maintains that the entry door must swing over a landing in conformance with Sentence 9.8.4.2.(1).

Appeal Board Decision #1316

It is the determination of the Board that the single step down into the dwelling's entry foyer is not prohibited because Sentence 9.8.4.2.(1) refers to a door swinging toward a stair and by dictionary definition a single step is not a stair.

George R. Humphrey, Chair