Observation about doors...

[Dark Nation]

Has anyone else noticed that doors which swing open will open inwards for houses/apartments and outwards for buildings which were built as businesses (houses which have been converted to a business don't count)?

At least, this is the way it seems to me.

Is this some sort of building code or something? To make it easier for emergency services to kick in the door if need be? So, why aren't all doors inwards?

[Anthus]

That's an interesting observation. Business' doors might open outward because people often come and go, and it is easier for two people to pass through a door if it opens facing out. I dunno, that's just my though.

[Cloral]

That is generally true, and I think there's a number of reasons for it. Firstly, a home's doors are generally opaque, while businesses often have glass doors. So having a home's door swing inward allows the person inside to safely open the door for someone waiting on the step. Secondly, in a home, the door usually opens into a hallway or foyer - in either case, the door swings to a wall, and is nicely out of the way. At a business, you usually enter into the main lobby or area of business. In this case, an inward-opening door would restrict the sense of open space they are trying to create. The last item I can think of is direction of carry - you usually carry goods out of a business, and into a home. In both cases, the door swings the right way to be able to push it with your back or foot if you hands are full.

[AtmaWeapon]

I've heard it described as fire code. A dwelling rarely has more than a handful of people in it, so in a panic there's very little risk of trampling and clogging the entryways. Commercial buildings might contain dozens of people, and if they rush an inward-opening door too quickly they can jam it shut with people; the only way to open the door would be for the panicked crowd to realize they need to back up (towards the fire.) It won't happen. If they rush an outward-facing door, at least the doors fly open.

Interestingly enough, many security systems in commercial buildings must unlock normally locked doors to satisfy fire code. I noticed this during a fire drill at a previous employer and asked about it. If there's a fire, it's more important to make sure people aren't stuck in the server room than it is to keep unauthorized people out.

[Mercy]

Part fire code re: business doors swinging outwards, part ergonomics. We are more eager/haggard to leave a business and to enter our homes than the reverse. Peaking out a door swung outwards to address a door-knock leaves one more vulnerable than if the door swung inwards (would you rather have to pull a door closed or push it closed if someone was on the other side trying to force their way in?). It is easier to leave a business when your hands are full or you are inebriated if the doors swing outwards (electronic doors being a different animal). There is also some doorman etiquette in there but it has been too many years since I had to take that etiquette course for cotillion and I forget...something about not swinging a door in a lady's face. I have lived in two homes with external doors that swung out and both times we had to rehang new doors in order to hang screen/storm doors. In both houses they were secondary external doors, one opened to a carport and the other to a side yard for deliveries (old house), while the main entrances to both homes swung inwards.

-m.