Garage To Living Space 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.

Garage to living space door requirement.

Typically drywall or equivalent is all that is necessary to meet the separation requirement. Depending on the site a 6 inch concrete foundation may be required at the old garage door opening. Only common walls between garage and house not perpendicular walls must meet this requirement. 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.

A guest quarter is a living space that has a bathroom and a wet bar but no kitchen. The room must have a window opening that has an area which is 10 of the floor area of the new room. If there is living space above the garage the ceiling would have to be 5 8 type x drywall or equivalent. When there is a living area habitable space above the garage the ceiling requirement ramps up to 5 8 type x fire rated drywall.

For instance there are fire rated doors that have a 20 minute several hours rating and they can be selected to meet fire department code requirements for residential spaces check your condo or townhouse local building codes for any requirements of fire rated entry or house to garage doors. To legally do this you must convert a garage by turning it into either a guest quarter or an accessory dwelling unit. If a garage is detached but within 3 feet of the residence any walls within 3 feet must have 1 2 drywall. All plumbing and electrical work must be carried out by a licenced plumber or electrician.

Again this is not a fire rated assembly but merely what is required to meet the proper fire separation requirements. Replacement of the existing garage door with a large window will ensure the room benefits from plenty of natural light and meet the requirements of the bca. While the six panel door shown below gets awfully thin at the panels this is still a 20 minute fire rated door so there s nothing wrong with it being used between the house and garage.