Self Closing Garage Door Requirement

A remodeler doing a flip house changes out all the doors in the home to update the interior and replaces the old door to the garage with a hollow core interior door.

Self closing garage door requirement.

It s code in most areas that the entry door to an attached garage be fire rated and have self closing hinges. 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. Building owners have until july 31 2021 to comply with this requirement and failure to maintain self closing doors results in a class c immediately hazardous violation which must be corrected within 21 days. Every 90 minute door in my supplier s catalogs comes standard with two self closing hinges the pins to set the spring tension are shipped loose but with the door.

But don t worry making this door self closing is as simple as changing two or three of the door s hinges or installing a door closer at the top of the door. Each fire door including its frame and hardware must be listed or approved by a nationally recognized testing laboratory. The purpose is to keep a garage fire from spreading to the house. According to the nfpa fire code 14 5 4 self closing devices a door leaf normally required to be kept closed shall not be secured in the open position at any time and shall be self closing or automatic closing in accordance with 14 5 4 2 unless otherwise permitted by 14 5 4 3.

The irc already included a requirement for these doors to be self closing equipped with a closer or spring hinges but for some reason it is still common to find garage doors that are not self closing. One theory is that it is inconvenient to have a self closing door in that location. Every jurisdiction around here requires a 90 minute door with self closing hinges but i ve had a lot of handy man types asking for 3 4 hour doors lately.