Basement Egress Window Rant

We moved to our current home in 2006. One thing we were looking for was a house with a space for a pool table. The house we bought is a ranch with a full basement. The basement has indoor-outdoor carpet on the floor, but is otherwise just a giant open space.

I mentioned something to DH last week about putting up a couple of stud walls down there. He said we couldn't because we don't have an egress window. I thought those were only required if you planned to have a basement bedroom, so I called the local building department today to ask.

It turns out that, technically, we are already in violation, because basements without egress windows are only supposed to be used for storage. We have computers down there, and DH and DD use the open area for hockey practice.

Now, I understand the safety concerns, and the reasons why an exit is required. However, I also know that our neighbors have a giant, wall-sized projection TV in their basement, and they spend most of their time down there.

I'm not sure how DH is going to react to this. There really isn't anyplace else to put the computer area. To be honest, I wouldn't have been as interested in this house if I had known that we couldn't use the basement for a family room. There's no good way to add on to the house, so I fear that my dream of a pool table is going out the window (so to speak).

Sorry, just needed to vent a little!
Tammy

Sorry about that news. Did you have a home inspection at the time of the purchase and ask the home inspector those questions?

I have to admit that it's so hard to tell what's correct and what isn't but that's one of the reasons even on our brand new home we did an inspection with a private firm to be sure of any questions we may have had from a design point of view.

Hopefully the house will still meet your needs.

I don't know the laws in your state, but in Indiana, the only time the issue of an egress window becomes and issue is if you spend over a certain percentage of your time in the basement or if you put in a bedroom. While I don't remember what that percentage is off the top of my head I do know that it is fairly high and most people would never have a problem with it other than if you were sleeping down there. Frankly this is more of an insurance issue than it is anything so if you are thinking of making changes down there than I would most definitely contact my insurance agent about it and get their opinion. Hopefully you have known your insurance agent for many years and he/she will take a look without getting caught up in all the details even if you are technically in violations of some of the rules already.

Wow, that is a really stringent building code. Did you talk to you building inspector directly? I would recommend that you call and ask to see the basement specifications in writing just to double check and make sure this is correct.

In most areas you cannot have a bedroom without the egress window but just having a rec room in most areas isn't a problem.

Here in ND, we were in a similar position. We fell in love with a house that had a full basement with rec room, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms. But because there were no egress windows, the current owners were not able to market the house as having such amenities. They could only list it as "finished basement" because the lack of egress windows obviously violated code. Maybe it's the same for you? You can use it for what you want, but if you sell, you can't say you have a rec room? I'd double-check the actual law. Of course, I imagine if you use it for a rec room tho' it's against code, if you should have some sort of problem like water damage, the items in the basement wouldn't be covered, but I don't know.

Good luck!

You can have an egress window installed...
for saw-cutting concrete, new window, and area well you are looking at about $1000 to $1500 (Chicago prices - yours should be a bit lower). Ironically, that's about the price of a pool table.

As long as you are not doing any work to the basement that requires a building permit, the city cannot do anything about it. However, if you need a permit in your town for finishing a basement, you will then be required to bring the egress situation up to code.

We don't plan to have a bedroom in the basement. We currently just have our computers there, and DH and DD have a hockey goal set up at the far end for practice.

DH thinks that, as long as we don't put a bedroom there, we're okay. Unfortunately, we don't know our insurance agent very well, but I may call her anyway.

We did have an independent home inspection, and the inspector said we needed the egress window for a bedroom. I don't think I explicitly asked about whether we needed one for a family room. We "finished" the basement at our previous house (put up a couple walls, hung ceiling tile) without an egress window. There was no way to add one to that house - it had a wrap-around porch on three sides, and the garage attached on the fourth side.

When I called the building department, the lady who answered the phone deflected me from talking to the building inspector. Maybe I'll stop by and see if I can read the code on finished/partially finished basements.

Tammy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alphamommy

DH thinks that, as long as we don't put a bedroom there, we're okay.

---

Without knowing your local amendments to your codes, your husband is correct. That's how it is around here.

Another reason why many jurisdictions have this requirement is for the safety of emergency personnel, especially firefighters.

If (heaven forbid!) you were to have a fire in your home, can you picture a firefighter with all of his/her turnout gear and an air pack on his/her back trying to squeeze out through a normal small basement window if there was no other way out of a flaming, smoke-filled basement? Or worse yet, trying to carry one of your own family members out of that situation?

I know it's frustrating for you in your situation, but consider the "big picture" when trying to understand what seems like a 'silly' requirement.

Reading this thread makes me glad I live in the rural South. The idea of City Hall saying someone can't have a computer or TV in the basement (especially when the house was built at a time when there was no inspections or no egress requirement at the time) is absurd and unimaginable.

I am fully aware that large swaths of the country now live in a municipal Nanny State, but boy am I glad I am not in one of them!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ed

Another reason why many jurisdictions have this requirement is for the safety of emergency personnel, especially firefighters.

If (heaven forbid!) you were to have a fire in your home, can you picture a firefighter with all of his/her turnout gear and an air pack on his/her back trying to squeeze out through a normal small basement window if there was no other way out of a flaming, smoke-filled basement? Or worse yet, trying to carry one of your own family members out of that situation?

I know it's frustrating for you in your situation, but consider the "big picture" when trying to understand what seems like a 'silly' requirement.

---

This. It's a hassle, but it is worth it. What if there is a fire (or any other disaster) and your DH or DD are cut off from the rest of the house due to the fire? I've tried to resuscitate people who were in house fires. It is horrible. The money it would cost to make it safer is definitely worth it.