Novato, CA Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Section 4-2.1 states the purpose: specifications that promote building security, resist unlawful entry and establish crime prevention through building security under Penal Code § 14051. Section 4-2.2 says nothing in these regulations overrides local, State or Federal life safety law. Section 4-2.4 applies to all occupancies: door jambs on exterior doors and on doors from the garage to the house must have no voids between jamb and opening framing for 24 inches each side of the door lock, with solid blocking at lock height for a minimum of three stud spaces each side; in-swinging doors need rabbetted jambs; exterior sliding glass doors need an auxiliary pin-type locking device and exterior sliding windows an auxiliary locking device that opens only from inside.

Section 4-2.5 covers dwelling units. A door that forms part of the enclosure, including a garage door with an interior opening into the dwelling, cannot be hollow core or single panel construction when it is reachable from a street, yard, corridor, balcony, patio, private garage or similar area, and every dwelling unit entrance door needs a viewing device. Swing doors need a dead bolt with a minimum throw of one inch and a deadlocking latch, key operated outside and keyless inside. The inactive leaf of double doors takes flush bolts with a minimum throw of ⅝ inch, and at least one hinge must have a nonremovable pin or an interlocking stud. Overhead and sliding doors need a cylinder lock, a padlock with a hardened steel shackle (⅜ inch minimum size), a metal slide bar, bolt or equivalent, and overhead garage doors cannot have bottom vents. Openable windows need substantial locking devices that the building official finds as secure as the required devices, and louvered windows stay out of the first eight feet above ground unless the building official approves. Open parking lots with more than ten spaces need a maintained minimum of three foot candles of light, and address numerals must be at least two inches high and internally illuminated.

Section 4-2.6 sets commercial standards: exterior doors secured with a locking device approved by the building official and the police and fire chiefs, padlocks with a hardened steel shackle and minimum five pin tumbler operation, and a 60-watt bulb no more than 3 feet above the outside of each exterior door. The enforcing authority can also require an intrusion detection device.