Thread: Garage Side Entrance Door Access Problem

Hi there,

I would seek help and advice for the following situation:

We are building a new house with a walk out basement. We asked builder to put a garage side service door behind garage wall -- see attached picture in the link:

We just found that the side door was built on the cliff - right above retaining wall. We cannot get in or get out through that door - there is about 10 ft above the ground - basically you cannot step out. The architect or engineer designed the house made mistake by not considering extension of driveway in order to get access the side entrance. We asked builder to fix the problem. But builder told us that we need find ways by ourselves to get the access to the door. Builder suggested to move side door to the garage door side, but there is not enough space to put a door there.

My question is whether there is a building code builder should follow: if there is side door on garage, is builder responsible to make sure they build it for people to access once the house is built? How can ask them to make extension of L-Shape of retaining wall to fix the problem by a convincing reason or regulations?

Your help for this matter is greatly appreciated.

-Julia

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Originally Posted by Julia Tang

Hi there,

I would seek help and advice for the following situation:

We are building a new house with a walk out basement. We asked builder to put a garage side service door behind garage wall -- see attached picture in the link:

We just found that the side door was built on the cliff - right above retaining wall. We cannot get in or get out through that door - there is about 10 ft above the ground - basically you cannot step out. The architect or engineer designed the house made mistake by not considering extension of driveway in order to get access the side entrance. We asked builder to fix the problem. But builder told us that we need find ways by ourselves to get the access to the door. Builder suggested to move side door to the garage door side, but there is not enough space to put a door there.

My question is whether there is a building code builder should follow: if there is side door on garage, is builder responsible to make sure they build it for people to access once the house is built? How can ask them to make extension of L-Shape of retaining wall to fix the problem by a convincing reason or regulations?

Your help for this matter is greatly appreciated.

-Julia

Yes there is a uniform building code such as a platform outside the door and stairs and railing with the access door. If he just built the door into a wall 10 feet above the ground then I am not sure where his head was att with out the proper access to that door from the outside. I inspected a home a month ago where the builder did just about the same thing at the rear of the home. The home was built on a slope toward the rear of the property. The home was suppose to have a rear patio. The property dropped off so much and was not taken into account that the rear patio became a porch. It was all his mistake. The railings for the porch and the stairs leading from the porch to the lower rear yard were not installed. He told my client that "Oh, all that is extra." We just figured on a patio at the rear of the home and already gave you so much more.

Anyway, the answer is yes. If he literally just stuck a door in a side wall or where ever and it is 10 feet off the ground then he needed to add the extra on to your bill and of course build it accordingly.

You wanted the extra. He did not do it properly. I would say that it is on the both of you.

The OP started two threads for this question. Others should reply to the OTHER thread to avoid confusion.