Egress OK Through Doors in Double Firewall?

11/10/2020

I have a double fire wall (two masonry walls next to each other with small air gap in-between). I need to have a door in each wall.

The doors would have to swing opposite directions, I think, which means a double Firewall could not be used in an egress condition where doors both have to open in the direction of travel to the exit.

It sounds like I need a tied or cantilevered Firewall instead of a double Firewall. Is this correct, or are there any other approaches to a door within a double Firewall?

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3 Comments

Todd Wyatt

11/10/2020 10:23:06 am

Doors are only required to swing in the direction of egress, per 2018 IBC 1010.1.2.1, where a room or space serves 50 occupants or more or serves a Group H Occupancy.

If the above is applicable to both "fire areas" on either side of the Fire Wall, then the fire door(s) would each have to swing in the direction of egress. Dual swing, double egress fire doors would be required to latch which may be difficult to meet.

Per 2021 NFPA 221 Standard for High Challenge Fire Walls, Fire Walls, and Fire Barrier Walls, 5.8 Protectives includes "two fire doors shall be required within a vestibule, where the vestibule has a fire resistance rating greater than or equal to that required for the double HC fire wall."

Justin Milne

11/10/2020 10:37:38 am

This is the code path that was followed -
IBC 706.2 references NFPA 221 for double fire walls.

What kind of building is this? If industrial, maybe this will work?

NFPA 221
6.10.3* Double Fire Walls. Openings in double fire walls shall
be protected using one fire door in each separate wall.
See figure A.5.8.4 indicating roll up fire doors.
See Interteck Directory of Listed Products

Here is one rolling steel fire door.
https://iq.ulprospector.com/en/profile?e=208164

Herman

11/13/2020 09:09:28 am

i have successfully provided egress thru double fire walls on many projects of either steel or concrete frames, so it is absolutely doable. for a variety of projects i have provided automatic horizontal sliding doors along with swing doors for egress. the swing direction always confuses folks but with NFPA 221 in hand i have always been able to get owners and AHJs to agree and approve the arrangement. so first you need to determine if egress thru the double fire wall is required. is this an existing built condition? is each masonry wall supported laterally by independent framing? what is the joint size between your walls? there is a table in NFPA 221 that determines minimum joint size.

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