Thread: Height of combustible appliances.

OK, I know we have done this before but here's a new twist. I did an inspection yesterday on a split level home. The laundry/utility room and family rooms are the lower level. The garage is level with the ground floor. About 4' above these rooms. There is a door from the family room that accesses the garage via a small stairway(6 rises). The door is an insulated steel door and the weather strip is good.
Would anyone site anything about this?
The stairwell is the lowest point in the garage. is this a problem. Should it be enclosed?
Maybe the door should have an automatic closer?
The garage has no soffit vents although there is a ridge vent. Open ceiling. The separation wall is in good condition but this is the first below grade door I've come across.

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Rick
Not as long as the stairway is code complying and the walls are sheetrocked with 1/2" gypsum and fire-taped. Gotta ask, is there a gas-fired water heater in that garage?

Jerry,
The water heater and furnace are both in the lower level. In the utility room.
My concern is that there is no ventilation in the garage except when you open the garage door or the service door. So, would the possible accumulation of any gasses in the stairway present a problem when the door to the family room is open? Directly in line with this door is the utility room.
It's a long stretch (the safety concern) maybe, I had never pondered it before. If paints or solvents are stored in the garage could they be pulled in the house because the entrance door is lower?
More what ifs?

Originally Posted by Rick Sabatino

The stairwell is the lowest point in the garage. is this a problem.

Rick,

As I am envisioning it, yes, it is a problem.

All the accumulated gas fumes and other heavier-than-air fumes/vapors will collect at the bottom of that door and seep down into the lower room. Theoretically, that lower room could fill with those fumes/vapors and that could lead to one heck of a fireball.

Add to that the gas appliances down there and ...

Then considering the family room is down there ... not good in my mind.