Basement stairwell door questions

[JOHN D]

What are the rules for a door swinging into a stairwell? It's a inclosed stair down to a finished basement..The present door swings out and due to bad design is in the way when open. It swings into the front other stairs going up so I can't just leave it open. It can't swing out the other way cus that blocks a frequently used closet. I'm up & down both stairs constantly and have removed the door just to get it out of the way. If I turn the door frame around so it swings into the stairwell it would swing to the same side as the banaster. It will miss the end of the banaster by about 1". The stairwell is 36" wide. The door is 30" wide and the landing is 30" deep so the door might extend over the edge of a landing about 1/4 inch when fully open. The landing is level with floor. I think a door is not supposed to swing over the steps, but it's just 1/4 inch. You would have so stand on the steps while opening the door. It looks to me like it can work. What do you think.

[willshak]

My basement door swings into the stairwell. My stairs go down to the right against the wall. The door swings in to the left, so when open, it is against the back wall of the landing opposite the stairs. When open, the door doesn't have to be touched when going up and down the stairs. And yes, I do have to stand on the top couple of stairs to open it from the basement side ( I smoke a pipe and my wife doesn't like the smell, so I keep the door closed when in the basement). It's been that way for

20 years, and since my computer is in the basement, I go up and down the stairs numerous times during the day. I don't even think about it anymore. Unless there is some other problem that you haven't mentioned, perhaps you can reconfigure the door so it swings in, in the opposite direction of the stairs.

[Tom Baker]

The arrangement doesn't meet code. I'm sure it will work for you o.k. I do worry about the hand rail. Can it be mounted on the other side of the stair? TB

[JOHN D]

The stairwell is allready narrow and putting the rail opposite the door makes it narrower. The top end of hand rail would be about 1" away from the edge of the open door. So the door would intrude into the width about the same as the hand rail does and on the same side. I have one of those CodeCheck field guide flip chart things and it says a door is ok if it does not swing over a step. The door would just slightly swing over the step (1/4"). I could probably tweek something or change the hinges to get rid of that 1/4". The CodeCheck also says the landing should be 36" on both sides of door. It's 30" and can't be changed and is probably a code violation. The house is 10 years old. The inspector must have passed it when new.

[B]

The code says 3 foot by 3 foot landing shall be required on each side of an egress door, but not at the top of a flight of stairs *if* the door does not swing over the stairs. Yours swings over the stairs so you are in "violation" by six inches. How about a split door that will open about 15 inches onto each side of the landing? That will be $35. -B

[JOHN D]

I don't want to do the (2) 15" doors idea but its a good creative suggestion. The existing door is a nice oak 6 panal door. The door swings over the landing. It might go over he step by 1/4 ", Not 6". I can eliminate that 1/4" by making the door 1/4" narrower, or putting more noseing on the steps or adjusting the door jam or maybe different hinges or ignore it cause it's only 1/4". The only violation I see is the landing is

30" x 36 and it should be 36 x36. But the landing is allready there and is probably a violation if I do nothing and must have been seen by the local inspector when the house was new. I wish that was the worst code violation in the house. If the landing was 36" (meeting code) and the door was 36" the door would swing fully over the landing just like the 30" door swings over the 30" landing.

The landing can not be altered by any reasonable means so I'm stuck with it. The door swing is over the landing and can be installed so that it does not swing over the first step at all. There will not be room to stand fully on the landing while opening the door from inside the stairwell. I guess what I want to know is: Is it ever true on a properly built to code stairwell that there is not enough room to stand fully on the landing while opening the door from inside the stairwell?

[Tom Baker]

As I said, although the arrangement rrdoesn't meet current code, your proposal will probably work for you. TB