I've seen several 1940s and 1950s Capes with attached garages and no secondary egress because there were no automatic openers in use when built. Just manually latched and locked garage doors, all done from the outside. I'm willing to bet OPs garage was retrofitted with an opener later and somebody just assumed it would never be an issue.
Garage with no exit door
- Thread starter Blue2
- Start date
firebirdparts
Well-known member
I live in a cape that was built in the 70's with no man door into the house. The first thing I did when we bought the place was cut a door.
FWIW Garage doors that are automatic have am emergency release handle. It's not convenient but if the motor stops working you walk in your front door and then into the garage and pull the release and slide it up. It's what grandpa and grandma used to do back in the day before motors, lol!
kbuhagiar
Well-known member
That doesn't help if you dont have a front door to walk in to.
billconner
Well-known member
$10 and an hour or two to I stall an emergency release you can use from outside. What could be'asxeconomical and simpler?
larry4406
Well-known member
My god.
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pima67
Well-known member
Just for fun:
We lived in a house in UT built in 1952. The garage door was wood (Crawford I think) and wide enought for 2 cars (1950s cars anyway). One night there was a very loud bang. Our bedroom was over the garage, and I had thoughts of someone shooting at us. Any way it was the door spring breaking. That door was very hard to raise without the spring. My wife could never have done it. Did have a man door from the house for access. Before that I had tried to add an opener but there wasn't enough head room for the opener.
We lived in a house in UT built in 1952. The garage door was wood (Crawford I think) and wide enought for 2 cars (1950s cars anyway). One night there was a very loud bang. Our bedroom was over the garage, and I had thoughts of someone shooting at us. Any way it was the door spring breaking. That door was very hard to raise without the spring. My wife could never have done it. Did have a man door from the house for access. Before that I had tried to add an opener but there wasn't enough head room for the opener.
kbuhagiar
Well-known member
I don't disagree with you, and this was already suggested earlier in this thread.
billconner
Well-known member
I see, 4 years ago. And we know nothing is ever repeated on GJ.I don't disagree with you, and this was already suggested earlier in this thread.
Schurkey
Well-known member
Bubba Wallace admits noose controversy was 'coincidence,' says he's 'moved on' from incident
Five years after finding himself in the middle of an incident with an alleged noose, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace said this week it was all a coincidence.
www.foxnews.com
Building Inspectors around here tend to make their own Code interpretations and they can be wrong.
I've seen several instances where professional design opinions needed to be escalated to the State Building Inspector to get a reasonable solution.
On another note, I suspect that there are places that do not use the national building code and also I believe that our state did not have a building code until the early 1970s so anything was possible.
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billconner
Well-known member
Based on IRC, not for a garage intended for basically storage, in US. In Canada, I've been told a man door is required. And an overhead door is never considered "a way out", or "means of egress" in code language. You find a lot of these in multi family projects, a long building with just a bunch of overhead doors each serving a storage area. These might be against a property line and have no other access. Not garaged like the garage-mahals focused on here.
Local jurisdictions might amend this.
jmarkwolf
Well-known member
Service door within a 4-panel main garage door:
Demystifying The Pass Door : 1) The Limits Of Installing, and 2) Costs • Garex
It turns out that door manufacturers have already come up with a solution: the pass door. This is a walk-through door that is built-in within the broader
www.garex.com
kbuhagiar
Well-known member
Clever. Too bad it's so fugly.Service door within a 4-panel main garage door:
Demystifying The Pass Door : 1) The Limits Of Installing, and 2) Costs • Garex
It turns out that door manufacturers have already come up with a solution: the pass door. This is a walk-through door that is built-in within the broaderwww.garex.com
Took me a bit to recall this but I remembered but apartments that have garages they have to have a provision to open garage doors in an emergency (or if the battery died on the fob). They usually have a keylock just around head height or up a little higher that allows them to unlock and once it does a cylinder pops out with a cable that attaches to the ememergency release from the outside. As I said It allows them to enter garages that do not have a door for fire, emergency or dead batteries and power outages. It's been about 10 years since I lived in an apartment but when I did I had a couple garages for my various shops and they all had that now that I recall. Kind of gives you the ability to have the emergency release but not have it where the casual criminal can use it. Here is a link to one I found at the Despot!!! - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Prime-L...Kit-Diecast-Brushed-Chrome-GD-52143/202633678.
Lorydr
Well-known member
When I worked for a garage door company, I was told that crooks only needed a coat hanger to slip in at the top of the door, then fish for the trolley disconnect rope. That could work for an emergency. Meanwhile use the remote, have another to keep in the house.They offer keys that mount in the door which releases the trolley allowing you to open the door from the outside in the event of loss of power.
One such device
Chamberlain Quick Release Key for Garage Doors G7702CB-P - The Home Depot
Amp up a comfortable addition to the garage doors in your home with the selection of this adorable and amazing Chamberlain Quick Release Key for Garage Doors.www.homedepot.com
carcruse
Well-known member
Yep, see the video I posted (#75) on page 2.
CGT80
Well-known member
You must not be very smart, or just happen to live in every neighborhood in the country or even world to know that nobody cares, or did you just not clarify you are only talking about your area when you said no one cares? Blanket statements are dumb if that was one. Sorry, but one of my pet peeves is people who assume things that can vary wildly and those who miss the important detail in what they state or read.
25+ years ago, my city wanted a permit just to install a mercury vapor light over a residential driveway.
There are certainly regulations and people who do care in plenty of areas. You may be lucky enough to live where no one cares. What is required and what you can get away with can be different things.
A person only needs to be able to crawl in or out of the garage for a door failure. A utility door mounted low and between the studs would be easier and less visible while serving the purpose and it can be more of a DIY job.
A man door makes sense and can vary in installation difficult depending on the structure, but there are many pros out there like me and even others who could saw cut a thick concrete wall if it happened to be that extreme. A straight forward install could be done in a day, but sometimes issues arise, especially with old work. Location of course matters, especially if Murphy rode in the back seat and decides to mess things up.
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billconner
Well-known member
Hmmmm. With that kind of luck......
CGT80
Well-known member
What is that supposed to mean?
People often don't get to choose all the aspects of where they live, or even location, and have to deal with obstacles with projects like this.
Some cities have code enforcement driving around looking for any work going on.