Out swing door, step down requirment?

[mikesak]

Hi , I have two double french doors fairly close to each other. I am in California. Doors are out swing and swing out over a large concrete pool deck which slopes away and also to the side as you step away from the house. On one door the deck is almost flush with the bottom of the threshold and as it goes to the other side of this 5' wide double door opening it drops to just a little over 1inch. The other door, the concrete deck is about 1.25 " to 1.5 inches below the bottom of the threshold. the pool deck slopes away from the building. It is not strictly a landing since a landing infers steps. There are no steps. We have a sliding door in the same general area in which it steps out onto this concrete pool deck with a 4 inch step down. I think the code says no more than a 1 inch drop on a outswing door over a landing of which I do not think this is a landing since it has no steps. The inspector says he wants the pool deck to be flush with the threshold. I do not want to tear up the pool deck.Can you comment on this?

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

First, 5 foot wide double doors makes each door 2-1/2 feet wide.

The pool deck is the landing, and landings are required to be level have a maximum slope of 1/4 inch per foot. At 1/4" per foot maximum slope, the landing at a 2-1/2 foot door would be allowed to slope 5/8" from edge of door to edge of door.

Being as the doors are outswing, the maximum height down to the landing *from the top of the threshold* - not from the floor - is 1-1/2". Given that the typical threshold is 3/4" to 1" high, the landing would be allowed to be a maximum of 1/2" to 3/4" below the floor on the other side of the door, which makes that real close to what the old codes used to require: the floors on each side of a door be within 1/2" height of each other (that is no longer in the codes, but that height below the threshold effectively makes it about the same ... unless there is no threshold, and that would not be good).

On one door the deck is almost flush with the bottom of the threshold and as it goes to the other side of this 5' wide double door opening it drops to just a little over 1inch.

Is that across both doors, the entire 5' width, or one door? If that is across both door, the entire 5' width, that would meet the maximum slope of 1/4" per foot. If one door then the slope is too great.

The other door, the concrete deck is about 1.25 " to 1.5 inches below the bottom of the threshold.

That would meet code.

We have a sliding door in the same general area in which it steps out onto this concrete pool deck with a 4 inch step down.

That is allowed to be as much as 7-3/4" as the door does not swing over the step.

The inspector says he wants the pool deck to be flush with the threshold.

What kind of inspector - municipal code inspector? Ask him to provide the code section (I do not have the California Code handy), with that code section I can tell you if he is right or not, it would all be in the wording.