Bedroom Window Egress

[dshock]

Refresher:

The secondary emergency exit required in a bedroom is usually a window. The dimensions of the openings are to ensure the residents an escape route, but equally important, they allow firefighters with a backpack to enter. The opening must be at least 24" high and at least 20" wide. with a net area of 5.7 sq.ft. The window sill must not be higher than ____" from the floor.

UBC - 310.4
IRC - 310.1, 310.1.1, 310.1.2,3

[rgrizzle]

44" I believe F.B.C. chapter 10 section 1025

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by dshock

Refresher:

The secondary emergency exit required in a bedroom is usually a window. The dimensions of the openings are to ensure the residents an escape route, but equally important, they allow firefighters with a backpack to enter. The opening must be at least 24" high and at least 20" wide. with a net area of 5.7 sq.ft. The window sill must not be higher than ____" from the floor.

UBC - 310.4
IRC - 310.1, 310.1.1, 310.1.2,3

I believe that the wording is important enough here to mention.

The opening must be a minimum of 24" high and a minimum of 20" wide. and not less than 5.7 sq. ft. and no more than 44" high.

That means that at 24" high, the window opening would have to be 34.2" wide to meet the 5.7 s.f. criteria.

NFPA 101

Marcel

[dshock]

Marcel,
You are correct! I put a calculator to it! Wow!

[Richard A. Hetzel]

The 44-inch sill height is correct, but states which have adopted the most recent versions of the IBC may have a different (more stringent, meaning closer to the floor) requirement. I don't have a 2006 code handy to check.

[Peter C. Russell]

Originally Posted by mcyr

I believe that the wording is important enough here to mention.

The opening must be a minimum of 24" high and a minimum of 20" wide. and not less than 5.7 sq. ft. and no more than 44" high.

That means that at 24" high, the window opening would have to be 34.2" wide to meet the 5.7 s.f. criteria.

NFPA 101

Marcel

Hi Marcel,
This is why we see so many new homes built with all the double hung windows the same size, first and second floor, unless your in Mass. which I think is 3.2.

One thing to remember is casement windows can meet egress but be much smaller if they have egress hardware on them which the clear opening is achieved when the window is cranked open to a full 90 degrees.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Your right Peter, the Casement would be the best option to meet those needs and the next best in my opinion would be a single or double hung when it is 36" wide, but that is a big window.

Marcel

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by Richard A. Hetzel

The 44-inch sill height is correct, but states which have adopted the most recent versions of the IBC may have a different (more stringent, meaning closer to the floor) requirement. I don't have a 2006 code handy to check.

The 2006 IRC has the same requirements. The IBC is not relevant to Residential applications, however, it holds the same dimensions as the IRC for "Emergency Escapes and Rescue Openings" - IBC 1026.2 thru 1026.3

[Randy L. Thomas]

Be careful not to forget about the exception to that 5.7 sf rule...that is only required for windows that are not GRADE FLOOR OPENINGS. A grade floor window is basically a first floor window that a fireman could reach without the help of a ladder. Such windows only require 5.0 sf of opening. That is true for both IBC and IRC codes.

[Frank G. Ross]

I inspected a home two weeks ago and the owner was present and was a fireman. I asked him if he finds trapped victims in homes where the windows are too small to exit through them and he said yes, quite often they do find people that have died due to too small of egress windows. He said to write up too small of windows in a forceful way to prevent deaths.