In my rural area, I would expect a second story apartment like you describe to have stairs leading to the deck. You can find a secure door, perhaps a swinging patio door instead of a true french door.

I personnally wouldn't want a second entrance to the deck, let alone a second stairs from the outside! You shouldn't listen to your friend, follow your gut, afterall it is your house.

Terry, section R311.4.1 of the 2003 Int'l Residential Code states that an exit door is required that provides for direct access from the habitable portions of the dwelling to the exterior without requiring travel through a garage. I don't see any requirement for two stairways.

My brother-in-laws garage apartment stairs went into a vestibule between the house and the garage. (No deck, no second stairway, Covington LA.) Maybe you can arrange your stairs so that they do not go into the garage. Also, make sure that the windows meet the egress requirements.

Off-topic - You might want to have your french doors swing outward. That makes them better able to resist hurricane winds.

So does guests have access to the garage to come and knock on your door?

I think it would be weird to not have any exterior access other than through a private garage. I wouldn't want people to walk through my garage (I've got a restore project and wouldn't want anything messed up) to have access to come and visit my apartment.

Think about fires. Lightning strikes and accidents can hit even the best of designs. How easily could one escape from that apartment if the garage were burning? Same goes for the deck... if a blaze prevents you from entering the house, how are you going to get to ground level -- and before you bet your life on using a chain ladder, you better try it! Chain ladders do offer a method of escape which is better than none at all; but unless you are extremely physically active and with good gripping endurance, they are strenuous to use and only for the truly desperate. Note also that they require a sturdy, non-flamable fastening and you need to be careful to get one that is long enough... jumping the last 5 feet is not a good idea.

Sorry, I don't mean to zing, but I had a good friend badly injured when trying to escape a deck after a grill exploded; one arm was injured and couldn't be used going down that chain ladder.

Thanks everyone for responding.

Carolyn, I really like the look of a French door and will need the light from some type of mostly glass door. I will look for one that opens outward as Carter suggests but any glass door is easy to break into ... right? I really hate the idea of stairs leading right to a glass door. But I bet alot of people will feel the way you do.

Atlasvi, I do want to follow my gut but I am also going to have to follow the codes! Gonna need to find out exactly what Jackson County says.

Carter, thanks for the code cite. I suppose I could enclose one of the garage spaces as a downstairs room for the stairs to start in but I hate losing one of my vehicle slots.

Lyfia, we wont be doing any formal entertaining and my friends are mostly car buffs like me who wont mind walking past my cars. This is a pretty remote location so we won't have too many visitors and should see them coming down the lane anyways. What are you restoring?

Meldy, I do think of fires and I am gonna try to build with alot steel framing to somewhat reduce that hazard. My father witnessed a friend's Ford catch on fire yesterday, so your point is well taken. Still if we made it to the deck, we could drop off of it with a broken ankle as the worst case scenario.

I see it this way: House fires are rare, burgalry's... and worse ... are common.

But I really do like bouncing ideas off of people and thank you all.

Impact resistant glass would solve the break-in issue. I got a good quote on Neuma brand doors from Mobile Lumber Works.

Happy 'Cruisin'!
-Erica

Easily defeated French door?

Ultimately, every door and window is easily defeated, unless you have iron bars-- the ever popular Acatraz school of decorating.

I think it makes more sense to have only one set of stairs, either outside, or inside but enclosed from the rest of the garage.

Around here, when a garage is attached as part of a dwelling, the wall between the garage and living areas must be a firewall and the door must be a steel fire door able to withstand 20 minutes of heat and fire. I would think that you'll need to look at your codes for enclosing your stairs to meet fire codes (concrete block walls and fire doors).

Smoke detectors in the garage bays are also a good idea if someone is living above the garage.

Erica... I have cut and pasted your info on Neuma brand doors in my tips folder. Cruis'n the Coast was alot of fun.

Oruboris... I do think that some doors are more easily defeated than others. French doors and sliding glass doors would be near the top of any such list. As you suggest, we will probably have to have a downstairs room for the stairs. Maybe the downstairs space could be divided to create a spare bedroom for guests. But I really wanted a four car garage....

Wonbyherwits.... I hope I don't have to make any interior walls out of cinder blocks. I will try to find out what the local codes say and post in the next few weeks. And we will have several smoke detectors.

Thanks for the help!

Terry,
I agree with you. But I wanted to ad that in addition to smoke detectors, you might want to consider CO2 detectors. Unlike smoke, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are undetectable to the human nose. And they are also deadly. The detectors are cheap insurance. In fact, anyone with a gas or propane furnace would also do well to have one or a few.