I have a walkout basement with a room that is currently being used as an office. I am looking to turn it into a bedroom. It has two doors, one that goes into the hallway with the stairs, and one that goes into the laundry room, which also has another door to the big room with the sliding door. Does a basement bedroom have to have an egress window?
Links to the building code would be helpful. Thanks!
In my township, Vassar, every bedroom had to have an egress window no matter what floor. To be safe for future bedrooms in my basement I put 3 egress windows. I would assume each township or even county may have different codes on this though.
Exceptions
Habitable spaces in a basement or below the fourth floor of the building are not required to be equipped with egress windows or emergency escape when the area is equipped with an approved automatic sprinkler system that acts as a safety device in the event of a fire. An additional exception is granted when habitable spaces are designed with an exit door that opens directly to a public area, allowing for an alternate escape route.
if you're looking for a "legal" bedroom - that is legally listed as such for marketing purposes and safety it needs a closet as well as an egress window.
for safety it needs the egress window/door directly to the outside or the aforementioned wet fire suppression.
speaking of fire suppression systems. I was appraising a 12,000 sq ft very custom house with a 17 car basement level garage. they had a giant picture window at the basement level 'lobby' looking out into the garage. it was far cheaper for them to put in a commercial grade wet suppression system in the garage than it would have been to try to get that giant window fire rated.
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