Rule of thumbMandatory
Living space connects to outdoors
LAY-OUTDOOR-CONNECTION-01Description
At least one main living space (kitchen, dining, family/great room, or living room) must have a direct exterior_door connection to the outdoors — not just a window. A house with no back door from the living space is a defect, not a style.
Why this exists
Every home needs at least one direct exterior_door from a main living space (kitchen, dining, family, living) to the back yard. A house with no back door is a defect.
Categories
CirculationSite
Source
Industry consensusno manifest entry
Best practice (—)
Section: —
Published 2026-05-09 · last verified 2026-05-09
Solver enforcement
The constraint solver runs check function lay-outdoor-connection-01 as a hard constraint — layouts that fail are rejected outright.
Related directives
- Dining room sizing · DINING-ROOM-SIZE
- Mudroom sizing · MUDROOM-SIZE
- Half bath near public zones · HALF-BATH-NEAR-PUBLIC
- Stairs not from bedrooms · STAIRS-NOT-FROM-BEDROOM
- Hallway budget 6-12% of total · HALLWAY-BUDGET
Last reviewed 2026-05-09.