AC 029 - Number of Exits, Travel Distance & Common Path of Travel

This video talks about Travel Distances, Common Path of travel and how that can affect the need for 2 or more exits.
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#architecture #IBC #egress

[@erinprice9783]

I cannot tell you how much I WISH your instruction was around when I was learning fire code back in 2001. I finally figured out that you really need to pick apart the incredibly "hidden" intent of the code to really understand it. You have done the same thing in a way that makes the whole thing fall neatly into place visually. THANK YOU!!!

[@archicorner]

You are welcome! I hope you the best!

[@ashleychen3437]

you are so kind for posting these videos, super grateful to have found this channel!! Out of all my study sources this has been my favorite!

[@archicorner]

You're so welcome! These comments mean a lot! More videos to come in the future.

[@abdoz6908]

Thanks alot. I have watched almost all the channel videos, they are very helpful. I had a confusion between the common path and the dead end, but thanks to you, now it is crystal clear.

[@archicorner]

Love to hear comments like yours! Thank you for watching.

[@zaynabziaraty8534]

Thank you for this video! You cannot believe how useful this was for me to finally figure out this codes.

[@archicorner]

Glad you liked the videos!!

[@lighthouse6120]

Omg ! You are sooo kind for posting this tutorial. You explained it and now i'm understanding how to work out the various scenarios. Thank you for referencing the code sections along the way. I was doing ok with that part. However, It helped with grounding the answers. No doubts, solid info. Additionally, On a prior video you explained that this exit is not necessarily the outside door !!! Brilliant ! Thank you Sir. You are an angel on earth.

[@archicorner]

You are so welcome! Comments like yours are very kind. Thank you for taking the time to say so, you are very kind.

[@alexd7479]

I absolutely love these simple - but necessary - breakdowns. Really wish I saw this back in school and my early professional career!

[@archicorner]

Glad you liked them! feel free to share with others that are just starting out their career! Thank you again.

[@artist2k1]

Thank you for your amazing videos. You’re doing great job explaining these confusing code nomenclature😮

[@archicorner]

Glad you like them!

[@dennisfletcherdesignstudio7065]

Thank you, that allowed me to reach back and remember some information I needed for a project.

[@archicorner]

You're welcome!

[@arnelmacogay4394]

Thank you archicorner, great and really helpful!

[@archicorner]

Thank you. I appreciate it!

[@ivandiaz4168]

Awesome video! Love your videos, keep making them.

[@archicorner]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

[@89santafe]

Love your video series! using for continuing education. Thank you!

[@archicorner]

Wonderful! I am glad you enjoy the channel.

[@grantjohnson880]

Great videos, keep up the good work. They are really helpful!

[@archicorner]

Thanks, will do!

[@robloxvids2233]

I'm an architect/fire inspector and caught this violation at a building. The architect had designed the exits correctly but owner wanted to remove one so the doors swung the other direction. Their architect/consultant said it was OK since they still had 2 exits but we ended up measuring travel distance to both exits from the most remote point (not easy) and they were 12 feet over the limit so we made the contractor reverse the doors and put the exit sign up. Felt good to catch that since that's a rare violation. Any time a designed exit from the code plan is removed in the field it should rightfully send alarm bells off to building stakeholders. Even if it checked out we would want verification from the fire marshal and building official that they've OK'd its removal.

[@akshaykorlekar]

great video ! superb graphics ! awesome explanation ! thank you

[@archicorner]

Thank you for leaving a comment, much appreciated!

[@joro8604]

Wow, great explanation. I had no idea

[@megandavid5274]

Excellent! I finally understand this. Thanks so much!

[@archicorner]

Nice!!

[@marknelson6778]

Another great video. Love the graphic format. Would like to see you generate a video on Section 1026 Horizontal Exits.

[@archicorner]

Great suggestion!

[@tellairanishemirani2709]

Great video! Thank you!

[@archicorner]

You are welcome!

[@PH.Studio]

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful

[@archicorner]

You're welcome!

[@chazguz]

Awesome videos! Keep these coming. Have you considered creating a Patreon so people can support your content?

[@archicorner]

I have had various people provide me with that comment. If there was a Patreon account, would you expect from it? Please write back.

[@chazguz]

@@archicorner up to you I guess. Probably a lot of people come to your channel for the ARE...while the market of study materials for that is probably saturated and to some extent policed... I don't think there are any out there behind a paywall and with your skillset. Maybe a weekly comic centered around a code issue? Or Q&A? I would get behind that

[@LetsTalkJF]

YES YES YES! I second this. Patreon would be great!

[@shahadatshah1554]

thanks,you are so great sir,please upload more video

[@lorraineclark3876]

Your videos are amazing. Would the 2018 IRC have a section covering these topics ?

[@maimounasow9871]

Wow very helpful

[@archicorner]

Glad to hear that

[@sohailakbar1157]

Keep it up nice

[@archicorner]

Thank you, I will

[@mariaallgood1420]

Great Video-question-is the Total Travel distance include the Common path of travel form the remotest location in an office suite to the EXIT?

[@tuengineeringtutor9117]

U r my Hero

[@archicorner]

Thanks!

[@darrenchang2907]

Thank you for the video. A question: IBC 2018 Table 1006.3.3(2) Stories with One Exit Or Access to One Exit for Other Occupancies says one exit or access to one exit is NOT PERMITTED for third story above grade plane and higher. Does this mean that for 3rd floor and above, no matter how small the floor plate is, there have to be two exits? This doesn't make much sense.

[@archicorner]

You are correct in your interpretation. You cannot just have 1 exit on the 3rd floor or higher stories. Remember that the building code is meant to protect people. In case of a fire, it is possible that an exit may be block. If you only have one exit, you can get stuck in a very dangerous situation. The higher you are in the building, the more restrictions the code applies in order to provide reasonable exit safely. In this particular section of the code, the code simply limits the vertical travel required to reach the exit discharge.

[@ronaldcrouch2786]

Great videos Diaz! Entertaining! Clear Educator you are as Yoda would say! Old gray beard architect here. Consider 2023 ICC Commentary Figure’s 1017.3(1) and 1017.3(2). Note the ICC's “Military-Style” exit path [my coined phrase] [[90 deg turns ONLY] vs “As-The-Crow-Flies” [direct] exit path out of the rooms they show. Your good AC 029 here shows “Crow-Flies” method. Our QC team sees that Crow-Flies method OFTEN. You did use Military Style path method once outside the room. Penny for your thoughts on Military-Style inside the spaces? Is ICC forcing wisdom on architects to add distance cushion? I think so. Loose furniture creates life long variable. I hear AHJ's start their measuring wheel 1 foot off the remote corner. No choice in their rolling around furniture as they roll to an exit. That AHJ visit could be a VERY anxious moment for architects "living on the edge" with their math. Future updates to your AC 029, sharing what you agree with here, will prompt 6-stars from this old architect! Wait! Where do I click the stars!? HA! Keep up your GREAT WORK! Jesus, who always adds an exit door to our dead-end, mortal lives, will surely put YOU in charge of Egress Design for new buildings in Heaven [your ultimate reword] HA!

[@ronaldcrouch2786]

I mean Mr. Diaz. Forgive.

[@archicorner]

Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I am very sorry for the late reply. Back when I started my career in architecture, I would do that as the crow flies method that you mentioned. Lately, I have been doing the military style that you described and most AHJ require that. You actually caught a mistake in there! But I am only human as they say. I appreciate the way that you sent me positive feedback, I feel like we can all learn from each other and your tone was perfect. I absolutely love the feedback and thank you very much for it. I hope to update some videos in the future. This one will be added to the list, to show the updated path as you described. Thanks again.

[@Alexandra_hm1]

Hey! This is a great video. I have a question tho. Why are you using table 1006.2.1 to take the limited common path of travel on the example with the two exits? Isn't that table just for cases of 1 exit? Thanks!

[@olgasanchez3349]

Me fascinan tus videos. Me ayudan mucho en mi carrera de arquitectura. Podrías hacer videos usando multi family buildings y sus reglas por favor?

[@archicorner]

¡Hola Olga! ¡Eres una de las primeras en mandarme un mensaje en español! Me alegra que te gusten los videos, gracias por el encomio. Hay tantas leyes para un edificio que no sería fácil mostrar todos los detalles. ¿Hay algo en particular que te interese? Por lo normal trato de explicar partes claves de los códigos construcción solamente. Déjame saber. Gracias por tu mensaje. ¡✌🏽 chao!

[@mdca8773]

Great video... One question that i had from watching this video is, why would you consider the "common path of travel" if you have to conform to the "total path of travel" anyway?

[@archicorner]

"common path of travel" is a bit hard to grasp because it applies to two things: 1. When a space is allowed to have ONLY ONE exit, then the "common path of travel" is also the "total path of travel" permitted. You cannot exceed the "common path of travel" to reach your exit... period. 2. When a space is required to have TWO OR MORE exits then "common path of travel" is only a PORTION of the total path. It is the the maximum distance you can travel BEFORE you reach a diverging point that allows you to CHOOSE PATHS and proceed to either EXIT 1 or EXIT 2. Once you choose a path, you still have to travel some distance before you reach the chosen exit and that is when the "Total path of Travel" applies. Thanks for the question. Take Care!

[@kimduydoan8696]

Hi Archicorner, I'm just a little confused about these, Do the exit passages mean exit corridors? and the exit enclosures mean exit vestibules?

[@mdca8773]

another question I have that maybe you can help answer. I was working on a project which was going to be a conversion of a grocery store to a church building. I am familiar with how to determine the occupancy load but I thought I had read somewhere (perhaps the IPC) that for determining the plumbing fixture requirements for a religious building you can use the occupancy of the main worship space instead of the entire building. Does this ring a bell to you? Thank you...

[@archicorner]

The International Plumbing Code (IPC) and your State Plumbing Code may vary. In California, the California Plumbing Code (CPC) is the code that dictates the number of plumbing fixtures. When determining number of occupants, Table A of of the CPC notes that occupant load factor for Group A-3 - Worship places, must takes into account the principal assembly area and educational and activity units. The IBC on the other hand is a bit different. Table 403.1 of the IPC footnote "d", states that the occupant for load for places of worship must include seasonal outdoor seating and entertainment areas must be included. So in short, it depends on the State you had this project, but in short, it is possible that the Plumbing code may have had that exception at one time. Have in mind that the plumbing code is updated every 3 years, so if your project was a long time ago, it is possible that it was under an older code version. Take care!

[@obinna3037]

Great video. I have a request, Can you make a video on determination of building height with regard to the grade plane. Thanks

[@archicorner]

Do you have a specific example of what you mean? Let us know please.

[@georgey5996]

Hi Archicorner, these videos are really helpful. In a previous video you separated a building by different room occupancy types. When calculating travel distance requirements (1006.2.1) and building sizes, should we pick an occupancy that matches the general use of a building even if some rooms in the building have different classifications?

[@archicorner]

This is a bit difficult to answer through text, so I will try to be as simple as possible: 1) When determining loads you base the load on the use of the room or area. 2) When determining the distance, you normally base the distance on the area's assigned occupancy group. An example I can give is an office suite (B occupancy) that has a small conference room. The conference room's OCCUPANT LOAD is based on "assembly use". However, that does not automatically mean that the conference room is assigned into an "A occupancy group". Assuming it is a small conference room, chances are this conference room can still be assigned as "B occupancy" and therefore all requirements would be based on "B Occupancy". If the conference room is large enough to be assigned its own occupancy group ("A Occupancy"), now you have a building with "Mixed Occupancies" (A and B) and EACH occupancy must meet their respective requirements, including travel distances. Confusing enough for you? I hope not. Good question.

[@georgey5996]

@@archicorner Oh that's helpful. I also got a book on codes by Ching and I have been reading through that.

[@franknagy7480]

Do you need firerating ceiling in crawl spaces below apartment building .if it's not for storage just for access for building maintenance only

[@archicorner]

I don't often solve specific problems through KZbin. I would suggest you hire an architect in your area. They would have better knowledge of what laws apply to your state and county better.

[@junzheliu7288]

Hi, thanks for your great video. Just have one question about occupants. When you calculate the occupants for warehouse use by 14,400/50 = 28.8, why you rounded to 29 instead of 28? For my understanding, 14,400sqft is only enough 28.8, which means not enough for 29 ppl. Thanks again!

[@archicorner]

The jurisdictions I work with all require rounding up, not down and not to the nearest whole. As I have been explained to: you can’t have 1/2 a person in a room, either you have a person or not. Maybe other jurisdictions allow other methods, but not the jurisdictions I work with.

[@larrytinnin3357]

If my allowed travel distance is 300’ and two exits required, is the 300 to one of the exits or do BOTH need to be within 300’ each. Basically can one travel distance be 260’ and the other 350’?

[@archicorner]

The short answer is yes. The building code only requires you to have “an” exit within the required distance. There is no specific requirement for the second alternate exit.

[@arideangelis6991]

Thank you for the video. I just want to confirm, that if the design has 2 properly configured exits from an office space, as well as 2 exits from the story, then the Common Path of Egress Travel distance limit does not apply.

[@archicorner]

In general term, you are correct. If an office has two completely separate exit paths, and the paths do not share any portion of the path then there is no COMMON path of egress.

[@arideangelis6991]

@@archicorner But I could theoretically have a common path if both exit doors from the space exit into the dead end portion of a corridor, which also could have two exits. Since the CPET distance only kicks in if either the space or the story have one exit, I don’t see where in the code it explicitly provides a CPET limit even if there is a brief convergence in the dead end portion, given the two exits provided from both the space and the corridor (story).

[@archicorner]

@Ari De Angelis. Sorry the first answer didn’t help. At least we tried.

[@arideangelis6991]

@@archicorner Thank you for the reply and I appreciate the discussion. I think your response means you disagree. That is fine, I am just trying to find support in the code for the statement “and the paths do not share any portion of a COMMON path”, when there are 2 exits from both space and story. Or perhaps what I am missing, is that it is implied that once the paths converge, we are back to a single exit, kicking in the CPET limit, regardless of there are two or more doors that exit the space.

[@markstein7905]

Thanks allot I have been in the architectural field for 15 years and never understood chapter 10 well. Are you able to provide a sampel of an egress plan that has all these calculations egress calculations incorporated into the plans. Thanks

[@archicorner]

I was thinking about doing that soon. Hopefully I can get to that this year :).

[@bambideluxe]

Is this a consideration for residential or only commercial? Would it be best practice to abide by this code even if not necessary?

[@archicorner]

This applies to all projects. However, due to the nature of residential projects (single family homes), they are hardly ever affected by these items because they are simply not large enough to have long corridors or high occupant spaces. However, if a residential project is physically large enough, long enough or has sufficient occupants, this will also apply. This may be the case in high density residential buildings.

[@hollysimione3465]

Looking at ADA and m.g.l requirements, for accessibility, does the International Building code include both,

[@archicorner]

Not sure what MGI is. Can you let me know? But the IBC does not include the ADA, no. Some states include an accessibility chapter that are based on the ADA, like in California (CBC chapter 11B). But the IBC itself does not include it.

[@TiggerLyOne]

Please do a video about budget estimating.

[@archicorner]

This is a great subject! sadly materials and labor fees change so often and vary by area so much that unless we lived in the same area and in the same timeframe, this would almost be impossible to cover for a national audience. Even then it would change again next year so a video would quickly be out of date. Sorry we are not great help with this.

[@gundog168]

Does this mean then that the maximum travel distance to both exits is 300'... one of which has to be within 100'?... assuming the building has sprinklers?

[@archicorner]

Don't confuse the allowed "exit access travel distance" and the "common path of travel". regardless of the total exit access travel distance allowed, "common path of travel" is limited. The 300' distance requirement shown in this video example is to AN exit (NOT to ALL exits). In theory, a second exit may be more than 300' away.

[@emiliamarkovska3244]

In a situation where you need two exits and the common path of egress travel is within the maximum permitted by code, can you have one of the travel distance paths exceeding the maximum travel distance allowed if the other travel distance path is within the limit? Think of a building with a large floor area with lots of rooms, so the different areas of the building would primarily use one or the other exit.

[@archicorner]

All spaces need access to AN exit (ONE exit) within the allowed distance. The second exit can be further away.

[@emiliamarkovska3244]

@@archicorner can you point out the section of the code that clarifies this?

[@guan5625]

How do you calculate the total distance of travel? The worst scenario is someone from any point of the building goes to the furthest exit... But architect calculate the shortest route from any point of the floor, correct?

[@archicorner]

The IBC code measures distances to AN exit. All points of a floor must be within the allowed travel distance to AN exit. In most instances you are able to comply with travel distance using the closest exit available. However, have in mind that there are other things that may affect the layout of your exits, for example, dead end corridors and maximum common path of travel.

[@juanadiaz6661]

Hola 🙋🏻 mi corazón ♥️ no has pensado hacerlos también en español? Yo creo que los códigos o leyes son diferentes a lo mejor es eso verdad?

[@archicorner]

Hola! :) He pensado hacerlos en español pero solo en sentido de usar subtitulos. Pero no tengo el tiempo para traducirlos ahorita. Espero en el futuro los pueda traducir.

[@georgenavarrete8855]

how to figure out roof leaders spacing and gutter size.

[@archicorner]

That would be a good topic.

[@tfec4tfec576]

is there a software that can automatically calculate all this?

[@archicorner]

Not that I am aware of. Although someone in the comments mentioned that a grasshopper routine could be created, but I have not done one or seen one.

[@sarahhoekstra6945]

I've been watching your videos to help study for my NCIDQ exam. I came across a subject that I didn't see in your videos yet. If could do a video on Zoning in relation to the ICC family of codes and part called the IZC? Items to do with jurisdiction and safeguarding. My study material didn't give much on this. If you could give examples I think that would be super helpful. Thanks!

[@archicorner]

There is an IZC (International Zoning Code). However at least in California, where I practice architecture, each jurisdiction has their own Zoning Code. Zoning Code would be a good topic. We will add it to the list of possible future subjects.

[@anuragsingh-sn8zw]

Sir, I am resident of India and have some list of queries regarding fire safety regulations. Please share your email id for me to share the queries to you?