Strange Question - Does Your House Have a Back Door?

[Wish Upon A Star]

DH and I looked at a home the other day that didn't have a back door.

We found it pretty strange . . .I thought all houses had back doors? It did have a back garage door leading to the back yard, but it would definately need a back door . . .

Everyone here have a back door??

 

[nativetxn]

We have a sliding glass door that exits from our family room but we don't have a traditional "back door"

 

[DD2Disney]

Seems strange to me... Never seen a house with no backdoor. Seems like it would be a fire hazard.

 

[CEDmom]

We also have a sliding glass door in the family room that goes out to the backyard. We don't have a back door in the garage since it doesn't run the full length of the house. I would also think not having a back door would be a fire hazard as well as not allowing for good cross ventillation.

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

Exactly what I thought DD2 and CED . . .

Wondering if when they remodeled the kitchen and made the b-fast bar area they eliminated the back door . . .

Wonder if it would even pass inspection . . . .

 

[CajunDixie]

Were there windows on the back of the house? That would give you cross ventilation and an escape route in case of a fire. Our house doesnt have a "back" door but we do have a door that connects to the garage. The house we're looking at has a back patio door......but no patio so you'd drop like 11 feet.

 

[Bumbles]

We use the back door a lot....the way thigns are set up it's much more convenient. The only problem is it squeaks a lot more than the front door, so we need to grease it every so often

 

[Poohbear123]

We "have" a backdoor, thats IN the Living Room, however, DH covered it with Sheetmetal from the outside. I have a "side" door, that is in the kitchen and faces the side yard, so that is my Back door!

 

[Beauty]

We have 3 backdoors. One is in the Den, one in the SUnroom and then one from the Laundry room. We also have a door in from the garage.

 

[KristiKelly]

Yes, we have two. My FIL just bought a house that has a back door to the deck, but the deck has no steps - so no access to backyard. Then the garage does not have a separate door, we were trying to take a car that was not in the garage and had to go out the front door, because the garage door sensor wouldn't let us go out while the door was closing, so the only way to get out was the front door. What a pain, can't use the back door or garage.

 

[hawke]

a friend of mine only uses her back door. when i go to visit, i always have to go around to the back door; she doesn't use the front door. i can't imagine not having a back door! how would you take the trash out??

 

[pumba]

exits and I doubt they meant windows when they published them.......we have a front...side and a back door......but could get by with just a front and side.......we own an apartment bld and each aprt has to have two exits from their apartments.....

 

[monkeyboy]

I prefer to use the backdoor when I visit people. It seems more inviting and friendlier.

I also must say that I thought most local housing codes called for at least 2 exits from a house.

Oh and I did visit a house once with no front door. Well it had one but it was inside the garage so to speak. The house was designed by some famous architect.

 

[CamColt]

Our house is a split and we have a front door, a side door that goes into the garage(obviously a garage door too), and sliders to a deck in the dining room. I suppose the sliders would be the back door.

 

[Sonya]

Our old house didn't have a back door. A lot of homes in our area from that time (1940's I think) didn't have them. It was a pain in the you-know-where, and the reason we never got a dog. I didn't want to have to go through the garage to let a dog out to go potty all the time!

BTW- it was a ranch house with a full basement and only 800 sq. ft.

 

[coliebird]

We have a back door from the kitchen/family room that leads out onto the deck and we have a side door which is the door we use to enter. Whenever my front doorbell rings I know it is a salesman. Nobody comes into my house through the front door.

 

[MosMom]

We have a back door that leads from our great room to the screened in porch. We have a back door that leads from our back hallway into the garage. I hate the back door onto the porch because it leads from the great room and if you use it in the summer, you track dirt directly onto our carpet. I wish they would have put the back door in the kitchen since that leads to the porch as well. Oh well.

 

[Bojangles]

I have a backdoor but it's a real PITA to use. It leads out onto our back deck which is really high up so we usually only use it during the summer.

 

[CajunDixie]

exits and I doubt they meant windows when they published them

R310.1 EMERGENCY ESCAPE OPENINGS

R310.1 Emergency escape required. Every sleeping room shall have at least one openable emergency escape window or exterior door opening for emergency escape. Where openings are provided as a means of escape, they shall have a sill height of not more than 44 inches above the floor. Where a door opening having a threshold below the adjacent ground elevation serves as an emergency escape opening and is provided with a bulkhead enclosure, the bulkhead enclosure shall comply with SECTION R310.3. The net clear opening dimensions required by this SECTION shall be obtained by the normal operation of the window or door opening from the inside. Escape window openings with a finished sill height below the adjacent ground elevation shall be provided with a window well in accordance with SECTION R 310.2.

R310.1.1 Minimum opening area. All emergency escape openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet. Exception: Grade floor openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5 square feet.

R310.1.2 Minimum opening height. The minimum net clear opening height shall be 22 inches.

R310.1.3 Minimum opening width. The minimum net clear opening width shall be 20 inches.

R310.1.3 Operational constraints. Emergency escape openings shall be operational from the inside of the room without the use of key(s) or tool(s).

Aside from the required emergency escape route, very little has remained the same between the two codes.

The minimum net clear opening height does remain the same; however, the minimum total net clear opening requires 5.7 square feet (5 square feet, if on ground floor). The sash can no longer be removed to meet the minimum total clear opening. The minimum net clear width, without exception, requires 20 inches for all types of windows (including casement). Special provisions must be met when either the window's finished sill height or the door opening has a threshold height below the adjacent ground elevation.

 

[mickeyfan1]

which is good, as I can get the dogs out an in with out tracking snow all over the LR where the front door is. I think building codes vary from state to state and city to city, etc as far as emergency exits.

When we lived in GA, we never used our front door, neither did anyone else, everyone came through the garage, which was in back of the house. I still laugh about the first time we ordered pizza delivery after we moved there, the pizza guy even came through the garage! We never used our front door in AZ either, always came in and out throught the garage. We had an outside keypad that we could use to open and close the door if we didn't have the car clicker with us. Not using the front door became obvious when we had our house for sale last month, we could not put a lock box on the door because we didn't have a key for the door handle lock!