Is it code compliant to have a deadbolt installed as a separate lock, at the door of Assisted Living Facility Dwelling Units?

In a means of egress, most doors are required to unlatch with one Single Operation for egress. However, for many residential occupancies, there is an exception to this requirement, in the International Building Code (IBC) & NFPA 101 – The Life Safety Code for dwelling units and sleeping units (AKA guest rooms and individual living units) of Residential occupancies. But to most assisted living facilities this exception does not apply.

 

Thus, in an assisted living facility, such installation of a separate deadbolt with a lockset or latch set on a dwelling entry door unit would be classified as Non-code-compliant.

Assisted living apartments may seem the same as residential occupancy. The IBC classifies some assisted living facilities as Use Group I-1 and NFPA 101 classifies them as Residential Board and Care occupancies.

Whilst in the NFPA 101 occupancy type, the word “residential” is included for an entry door for an assisted living apartment, it is however not one of the occupancy classifications included in NFPA 101’s Residential occupancies (which are; apartment buildings and rooming houses or lodging, 1- and 2-family dwellings, dormitories, and hotels, motels).

Therefore to conclude, the abovementioned exception on residential dwelling units which allows two separate operations to release the latch, does not apply to doors of assisted living facility units. Thus all latching hardware or locking’s are required to be enabled to release with a single operation.

For an assisted living Unit, You can install either a single lockset (no deadbolt) or an interconnected lock or mortise lock (with deadbolt).

In many cases, assisted living entry doors use electric strikes, in order to allow easy entry by emergency personnel or to release the latch when the door is equipped with an auto operator (or for both purposes). However, because these doors are typically required to be fire-rated, a fail-secure strike is required to be used.

Also, Due to the fire rating codes, doors must also be self-closing. This is to protect the occupant within, to ensure that doors are closed and latched, in case there is fire also in order to prevent the fire from spreading from the unit of origin.

What supply or specific hardware is needed for an assisted living unit? Which lock functions are required and preferred?

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