ᐅ Two doors leading to the hallway touch each other.

Created on: 6 Mar 2020 17:02
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Leonbra
Hello everyone,

We are buyers of a semi-detached house (turnkey from the developer). A few days ago, we visited the house for the first time and noticed that two doors leading to the hallway (from the living area and the storage room) touch each other when opened at the same time. To help illustrate this, I have attached a screenshot from the property brochure.

We have reported this issue to the developer, but we have no idea whether this is acceptable or common practice. Is there a relevant standard or building regulation? After all, this also concerns an emergency escape route. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about this online.

Thank you very much for your help.
Leonbra

Grundrissplan eines Badezimmers mit Türöffnung und Fliesenboden
Musketier6 Mar 2020 18:09
I think the door to the living room would always be left open in our home.
As a couple, the doors were always open in our old apartment. Having a child and a cat in the house hasn’t changed that.
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Leonbra
6 Mar 2020 18:52
Musketier schrieb:

I think the door to the living room would always be left open in our house.
As a couple, the doors were always open in our old apartment. With a child and a cat, it hasn’t gotten any better in the house.

Good point... Hmhm, we usually keep the doors closed at the moment, but who knows.

We’re also wondering how things will proceed with the builder. Every standard, like DIN norms, includes tolerances, and of course a door on the property can be a few centimeters (inches) to the left or right—but only as long as it doesn’t collide with another door, right?
Space is tight in all the houses; it fits only by a few millimeters (fractions of an inch). But only in our case do the two doors actually hit against each other.
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shenja
6 Mar 2020 19:08
We have exactly the same problem. However, we only noticed it after moving in.
We have learned to live with it. If the living room door and the storage room door are opened at the same time, we make sure to be careful. Usually, the storage room door is closed, so no escape route is blocked.
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guckuck2
6 Mar 2020 19:32
I would simply paint the door to the living area completely. What purpose does it really serve? It doesn’t provide any meaningful separation since the staircase doesn’t even lead off from the hallway. So you’ll have noise from the living area reaching the bedrooms (and vice versa) anyway, which is usually the main reason for having a door to the hallway.

Getting a stroller in there will be very difficult anyway, the hallway is narrow and the layout with two doors is inconvenient. You’ll need to maneuver the stroller carefully to fit it inside.

However, I wouldn’t build properties specifically designed for strollers. You only need a stroller (per child) for about 1 to 1.5 years, then a buggy after that, and by age 3, certainly by 4, you won’t need it anymore.
Vicky Pedia6 Mar 2020 19:42
@Leonbra In my opinion, there is no specific standard for this, but it simply doesn’t work. Complain to the developer or builder; they should provide practical solutions! You are paying for this, after all. Make it clear that you will not accept it! They can also reposition the door frames.
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hampshire
6 Mar 2020 19:47
To be pragmatic: How often will it actually happen that the doors get in each other's way?
I would just smile about it and move on.