Building codes & construction
Means of egress
CBC Chapter 10's exit system — exit access, exits and exit discharge — with two-exit rules, travel-distance caps and corridor standards that shape floor plates.
Definition
Means of egress is the California Building Code Chapter 10 system for getting people out: a continuous path from any occupied point through the exit access, into a protected exit (usually a rated stair), and out the exit discharge to a public way. For R-2 buildings the load-bearing rules are the two-exit default per story, exit-access travel-distance caps (commonly 250 feet in a sprinklered building), common-path-of-travel limits, corridor fire ratings, and narrow single-exit allowances for small buildings — generally up to three stories with a handful of units per floor. The California Fire Code (Part 9) maintains the same system through the building's operating life.
Why it matters in an underwrite
Egress geometry is floor-plate efficiency: the second stair, its rated enclosure and the corridor connecting them all come out of rentable square footage, which is why small infill parcels are where egress kills deals. The single-exit allowance is narrow but valuable on those sites. Model stair count into net-to-gross before pricing land, and treat any story added during entitlement as a fresh egress check.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.