Egress is a big deal when you’re designing a new home. If
you check with Webster’s, you’ll find this word simply means ‘an exit from a place.’
The word ‘egress’ sounds like a self-inflated term! Why not
just say an exit from a place? Well, I
like the word! It implies a certain
importance which it deserves. Why does
it deserve this? Because egress from a
residence is of great importance in special situations.
Let’s say someone forgets to blow out the candles on the
coffee table before going to bed. About
2:00 am you awaken coughing. You look
out into the living area and it is filled with flames and smoke! You can’t run
to the front door, or even the back door.
The only way out is whatever means available from your bedroom. Let’s pray you don’t live in a post WWII
house with narrow, or extremely high
windows. Your bedroom could become a
death trap!
Or, let’s say you recently built your home with the current
trend of having a master bedroom on one side of the house, and all the other
bedrooms on the other side. The same
scenario develops, but this time you have children in those rooms on the other
side of the house. Their windows need to
be easily reached from inside their rooms, as well as big enough to fit through.
The International Building Code sets these requirements for
egress: “Windows in designated sleeping areas must have a minimum of 5.7 square
feet of operable space. This opening
space must be a minimum of 20” wide and 24” tall. And the open area cannot be
more than 44” above the floor.”
If you want to stay with standard, single hung windows (the
type which are fixed in the top half, and the bottom half raises) the minimum
size window for a bedroom is 3’x5’, which sits about 20” above the floor. If you like casement windows, the minimum
size would 2’-6” x 5’.
As your building designer I will keep in mind features to
keep your family safe, as well those which make the house attractive and
comfortable! Please contact me in
Denton, Texas, through my website: www.ellensullivan.net
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