Guides / Decision guide
Plan for safety glazing and the garage-to-house door
Why glass in doors is a regulated safety product, and the separate rules and guidance for the door between a garage and the house.
What is not established
- The adopted 2023 Florida Building Code wording was not retrieved; confirm current requirements with the building department.
- No door in this draft has been confirmed to meet a safety-glazing or fire-rating requirement.
- This guide is not a code determination.
Glass in doors
CPSC's architectural glazing standard, 16 CFR Part 1201, covers glazing in doors, storm doors and sliding glass patio doors for consumer use, with two categories by glazing piece area; a 2016 rule adopted the ANSI Z97.1 test procedures. Exemptions include openings a 3-inch sphere cannot pass and qualifying decorative glass. The standard does not say which home locations require safety glazing; that is the building code.
Indexed snippets of the model residential code recorded in the research describe glazing in swinging, sliding and bifold doors as a hazardous location requiring safety glazing. That wording is not confirmed in the adopted Florida text.
The door from the garage into the house
A 2017 Florida Building Commission supplement reproduces residential section R302.5.1: openings from a garage into a sleeping room are not permitted, and other garage-to-house doors must be solid wood or solid or honeycomb-core steel of a stated thickness, or 20-minute fire-rated, with a self-closing device. The U.S. Fire Administration recommends a 20-minute fire-rated, self-closing and self-latching door with gypsum separation; that is guidance, not code.
Original paraphrase of the CPSC standard (Cornell LII reproduction), the 2017 Florida supplement and the USFA postcard. The adopted 2023 code text could not be retrieved during the research.
Sources: CPSC 16 CFR Part 1201 architectural glazing standard (Cornell LII reproduction); Florida Building Commission 2017 supplement reproducing residential door sections; U.S. Fire Administration: prevent home garage fires
Sources
External references are provided for research context. A source link does not indicate enrollment, endorsement, or availability in your area.