Egress window versus larger window

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Spfrancis

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I have just purchased a house that hash a finished basement, that does not have an egress for the basement. I was looking at putting in a egress window, and I wanted to ask the folks on this forum about possible alternatives. A Bilco egress will be a big hole in the wall, and a deep hole in the outside ground to support the 45" inches wide, and the depth from the ground of 45-55 inches to allow it to be the right height in the basement. It seems like a very large hole, and I get the need for it. The one thing that someone else said I could do to make it a smaller footprint, but would still allow adults or kids to get out is to just put a bigger window in there. The current window is 15x30(~), and he was saying that I could put in another 15x30 underneath it(meaning one windows 30x30), and it would provide a 30x30 opening. It would have to be some sort of window that would fold in, so that in case of an emergency, I could open the space. I know that it is not an egress, but it is providing a good size opening to have someone get out, and it won't cost nearly as much as an egress.
Hopefully I won't get flamed for trying to divert the use of an egress, but I wanted to see what folks think.
Sony,
 

Dana

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The IRC specifies 5.7 square feet (821 square inches) net clear area for an egress window, minimum dimension of the short side of 20". That means you can't have a bar in the middle of that area. I'm not sure how you can add another 15 x30 and end up with 821 un-obstructed clear area in a manner that has anywhere near the air tightness or weather resistance of a 30" x 30" window. With the window framing interfering with the egress area, there's no way it's actually easier to squeeze your body out of it when the room is on fire.

Unless it's a bedroom most local codes don't require an egress window for a basement. If you want to install something smaller than a 30x30, say a 20" x 30" or 24" x 30" it still wouldn't be a code-legal egress window, but a heluva lot easier to squeeze out of than a pair of 15" x 30" separated by the window framing. A bottom end clear-glass ~U0.50 24" x 32" awning or hopper window runs about $115 at box stores, but a pretty-good low-E 24" x 36" Jeld-Wen is only ~$200, and comes close to (but not quite) a code legal egress opening size.

From a heating & cooling efficiency point of view, a low-E 24" x 36" probably beats the heat loss/gain numbers of the existing 15" x 30" window even if it's a clear-glass double-pane, and hands-down beats the loss/gain number of a clear-glass basement window. A single 24" x 36" awning window has less weather stripping length than a pair of 15" x 30", and should have less air leakage. In a humid Virginia summer, air leakage into the basement represents a real latent cooling load, and contribute to the "musty basement smell" mold factor, and in the winter air leakage is a significant heating load at sub-freezing temps. A single larger (if not code-legal egress size) awning window is really a better choice.

If it IS a bedroom, don't cheat the code on this!
 

Spfrancis

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yeah, so it is not another 15x30 window. The idea is that it would be a 30x30 window, with some way of having the window fold in so that it would not need to be pushed out, but rather pulled in. So possibly a 24x32 JeldWen window could be enough to provide an opening for escape. The basement does have a bedroom, so it would be having people sleeping down there. I just thought that the opening for the Bilco was pretty large. It seemed pretty large. I will have to find out what the code states for this.
 

Dana

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Start at Section 310, a bit over halfway down the page.

If it's a bedroom, go with a code-legal window. You may be grandfathered-in with the existing window, but if you replace it with a larger but still sub-code egress it's on you.

Awning & hopper windows can have issues for getting out of a basement quickly since you'd either be banging your head on or crawling over glass. A casement window is probably a better bet if you're keeping the total size smaller, but sliders may be easier, although it has to be nearly twice the side of a casement to have 821 square inches of egress.
 

Jadnashua

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When I lived in Germany, I fell in love with their typical choice of windows. Many of them have a tilt-open functionality. You turn the handle 90-degrees from being locked, and you can tilt the entire sash in from the top - lets air in, directs rain outside, keeps things secure...turn the handle 180-degrees from the locked position, and it opens like a door. Really neat, great access, easy glass cleaning, great security, easy egress (but expensive). This is one company that imports them

http://www.fenstermann.com/Home_Page.html

. VisionWall used to make them in the USA...not sure if they still do.
 

Spfrancis

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Cacher_Chick

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I was told that the minimum size is based on the space needed for the average dressed-out firefighter to enter the room from the outside.
I don't know that to be fact, but it makes some sense. There are also minimum dimensions for the area required outside of the window.
 
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