Glass on door into home from garage

11 years ago

Hi all,

We would like to have glass on our door that leads into the home from the attached garage. We have several windows in the garage and if we have glass on the door we would bring a bit of light into the windowless mudroom. I am hearing different opinions on whether it is possible to have glazing on the steel entry door from the garage. What kind of steel door with glazing if any can we consider? Also worth noting, given we are located in Canada, we need to consider the thermal quality of the door as the garage is unheated.

Thank in advance for your opinions.

Featured Answer

ontariomom
Original Author

11 years ago

Thanks all for your input! I appreciate you taking the time to reply!

I had assumed as well I would need a fire rated door and glass. However, we just received an email from the building inspector stating in our district we only need a steel door with a self closing mechanism, and yes we can have glass in it. He basically said if the dor is an exterior door, it is okay to use for the entry door from garage as long as it has a self-close mechanism. Some places around here that sell steel doors for residential applications were also under the impression that we needed a commercial fire-rated door, although some other places of business said a regular exterior steel door was perfectly okay. So, it does seem that opinions are mixed on the safety of regular doors going from home to garage. Certainly, I don't want to add unreasable fire risk to my family. So yes brikeyee is correct that many places, including our area, don't require a fire rated door or so we have been told by the inspector.

Any opinions on the safety of going with an ordinary exterior door versus a commercial one? Obviously a residential door is way less costly.

Carol

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Comments (10)

millworkman
11 years ago
Must be fire rated, minimum 45 minute rated system including the glass and lite kit so you would need a commercial grade door as opposed to a residential fire door.
PRO
Windows on Washington Ltd
11 years ago
+1

Not sure which glass containing windows out there will qualify but I would assume that anything meet fire code would be pretty well built and insulated as well.
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millworkman
11 years ago
Most all commercial door companies will have a fire rated vision kit which will also include the glass. Or even perhaps a good glass shop can purchase the kit and glass and add it to a residential fire rated door.
brickeyee
11 years ago
Make sure you actually are required to have a 'fire rated' door.

Many places do not.

The actual requirement gets overstated.
millworkman
11 years ago
Ordinary entry doors have a wood frame which I am not overly fond of.
toddinmn
11 years ago
I would not haave a problem with a residential door with glass on my house. Maybe put a smoke detector by the door on the interior side for some cheap insurance.
ontariomom
Original Author
11 years ago
Good idea toddinmn! A well priced smoke detector will give us some peace of mind.

Millworkman, we can get a clad frame with the door we are considering, but not sure if the extra dollars would be worth it. I will price it out.

Thanks,

Carol
millworkman
11 years ago
Most of the millwork companies will be able to provide a fore rated metal frame without a fire rated door. It will not have the fore rating for the system but the all would at least be metal.
ontariomom
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the great tip, Milllworkman. I will see about getting a fire rated frame with a standard residential steel door and glass.

Carol