I just saw these doors in a hotel, so it seems like a good time to write about the requirements for doors at an elevator hoistway. Basically, where a corridor is required to have a fire-resistance rating (like in a hotel), openings in the elevator shaft have to be protected by fire door assemblies. Often this is done with an elevator lobby, but in some cases an elevator lobby is not required and the fire door assemblies are provided right at the hoistway.
Here’s where the requirement for opening protectives is stated in the 2018 IBC: 3006.2.1 Rated corridors. Where corridors are required to be fire-resistance rated in accordance with Section 1020.1, elevator hoistway openings shall be protected in accordance with Section 3006.3.
This hotel does not have elevator lobbies, hence the swinging doors at the hoistways. Since the swinging doors would not be user-friendly during normal operation of the elevator, the doors are held open on magnetic holders and will close when the fire alarm is activated. I have to say…I would have not have used brass anodized continuous hinges and brass powder-coated closers – white would have blended much better. And these doors don’t appear to have gasketing or door bottoms, so I’m not sure how the UL 1784 air infiltration requirement is being met.
Are the additional doors required when every elevator comes standard with an 90 min door at the shaft wall?
If the doors comply with UL1784, is a bottom seal necessary?
We have supplied them both with and without a bottom seal. If the shaft is pressurized, then a bottom seal is required.
Slammers! Don’t see them much anymore, but I do have a situation where over the years the required elevator lobbies have been removed (or never installed) and now they are trying to remodel the common spaces. They were given several options, they chose to employ the additional hoistway doors.
Detailing has become a lost art, I see it continually as an installer.
ASME A17.1/CSA B44-13 has additional requirements for this type of opening. Depending on the local adoption, these doors might require a vision lite to comply.