Door Clear Opening Width - House of Doors - Roanoke, VA is here to help

House of Doors - Roanoke, VA

Clear opening width for doors can be confusing, House of Doors - Roanoke, VA is here to sort it out for you. The requirements listed below can be found in the International Building Code (IBC), the International Fire Code (ifc), ICC A117.1, NFPA 101 - Life Safety Code and the 2010 ADA Standard for Accessible Design. Minimum clear opening width applies to both doors in an accessible route but also openings in the means of egress

Highlights of clear opening requirements:
-Typically doors must provide a minimum of 32" of clear opening width.
-Clear opening width is measured between the face of the door and the stop on the strike leg of the frame when the door is opened to 90 degrees.
-Swing clear hinges may be able to be used to increase the clear opening width by relocating the pivot point of the opening.
-A pair of doors must have at least one leaf that provides 32" of clear opening width when measure from the face of the open door to the edge of the inactive leaf in the closed position. When replacing a pair of doors that does not meet this requirement an unequal pair is typically required.
-Openings with or without doors (includes hollow metal cased openings) that are more than 24" deep must provide a clear opening of at least 36" inches.
-No projections are allowed into the required clear width opening between the floor and 34" above the floor. To clarify this does not mean nothing an project off of the door just not into the clear opening width dimension.
-Manual swinging doors in/on an accessible route are not allowed to have any projections in the bottom 10" of the door height.
-Projections into the required clear opening width of up to 4" are allowed between 34" and 80" above the floor.
-Door hardware such as exit devices and ADA lever handle lock sets are required to be mounted between 34" and 80" above the floor and is not taken into account unless it projects more than 4" into the required 32" clear opening.
-Projections into the clear opening width above 80" are typically not limited.
-Certain occupancy types require a greater clear opening width such as hospital patient rooms used for movement of beds are required to be at least 41-1/2" of clear width
-The IBC and IFC limit the maximum width of an egress door to 48". 48" is not the maximum clear width it is the maximum width.
-Clear opening height is also addressed with the basic requirement being 80" nominal above the floor with an allowance for projection of the frame stop/soffit. Most codes allow for the application of a surface mounted closer arm as well as an overhead stop.

Contact House of Doors - Roanoke, VA to see how we can help you determine if your building is code compliant.

House of Doors - Roanoke, VA
Sales, Service (Repair) and Installation of commercial doors, frames and hardware