The New York City Department of Buildings has announced that New York City will be adopting a new construction code as of October 1st, 2014.  Building permits issued prior to that date will be subject to the 2008 New York City Construction Codes.  The 2014 code is based on the 2009 edition of the International Building Code, with some modifications – many of them based on Selected Local Laws.

I reviewed Local Law 141, which includes the NYC-specific modifications to the IBC.  [Text in brackets is text that has been deleted], and underlined text is new. Local Law 141 is available here, but when I tried to access it I received an error message.  If you have the same problem, you can right-click on the link and choose “save target as” or “save link as” depending on your browser, which will allow you to download the PDF to your hard drive.

I noted a few changes of interest (let me know if you find others!):

1008.1.9.3 Locks and latches – This section still contains the exception that addresses roof doors:  “Stairways leading from the top floor to a roof may be provided with locked wire mesh gates openable by key in Occupancy Group E. The use of a hook and eye closing device on the inside of all doors to roofs shall be permitted.”  This exception is specific to New York City.

1008.1.9.4 Bolt locks – There was language added in the 2009 IBC which allows the use of manual flush bolts on pairs of doors in a means of egress that meet certain criteria.  This language has now been added to the NYC code.

1008.1.9.8 Electromagnetically locked egress doors – This section addresses applications where electromagnetic locks are released by hardware mounted on the door leaf rather than by a motion sensor (for locks released by a sensor, the NYC code section that applies is called 1008.1.4.4 Access-controlled entrance doors).  The section addressing mag-locks released by door-mounted hardware was added to the 2009 IBC, and will now be included in the 2014 NYC code.

1008.1.10 Panic and fire exit hardware – Previous editions of the code required panic or fire exit hardware for Group A and E occupancies with an occupant load of 75 or more, as well as some High Hazard occupancies.  This language has changed in the 2014 NYC code to:  “Doors serving a Group H occupancy and doors serving rooms or spaces with an occupant load of 50 or more in a Group A or E occupancy shall not be
provided with a latch or lock unless it is panic hardware or fire exit hardware.”  (There is an exception for key-operated locks.)

1024 Luminous Egress Path Markings – This section details the requirements for marking certain egress path components in high-rise buildings, including the markings required for doors, frames, and hardware.

403.5.3 Stairway door operation – The previous section that addressed locking stairwell doors (stair side only) was replaced, but still contains some different requirements than what is required by the 2009 IBC.

2406 Safety glazing – The 2009 IBC includes more stringent impact-resistance requirements for glazing used in fire door assemblies, and this section has been incorporated into the 2014 NYC code.  Most notably, the exception for traditional wired glass in fire door assemblies has been removed.  This section also contains the requirements for marking each lite of glass.

If there are specific issues you’d like me to research in the new NYC code, just leave a comment below.  Please pass this update along to any of your colleagues who work on projects in NYC.

Here is a presentation on the 2014 NYC Construction Codes by Keith Wen, RA, Technical Advisor to the Office of the Commissioner.  It doesn’t address door-specific requirements but does cover the basics of the code change.

2014 NYC Construction Codes – 5.21.14 from Center for Architecture on Vimeo.

Thank you to my friend Zeke Wolfskehl, who keeps an eye on things in NYC and alerts me to any news.

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