Headroom requirements for bedrooms? (floor, window, heat, ceilings)

[tribechamy]

Are there generally requirements for square footage of ceiling heights in bedrooms?

We're in a dormered cape with two bedrooms on the second floor. Each bedroom is approximately 10'x18' but because of the sloped ceilings only about 10'x12' of that space has a regular 7 foot ceiling. (While that might be small for some, to me it still feels large for a bedroom.) I keep debating throwing up a wall, putting in another hallway door, and splitting one of the bedrooms into two 10'x8-9' bedrooms for each of our kids. However in that case each bedroom would only have about 10'x5'-6' of 7 foot headroom. I know that most building codes require at least one wall to be 7' for a habitable room, how does the headroom fit in?

Also, every time I think that the resultant bedrooms wouldn't have enough square footage of headroom, building-code-wise, I see a magazine photo like this: Kids Room Ideas – Design and Decorating Ideas for Kids Rooms - Country Living or this: Kids Room Ideas – Design and Decorating Ideas for Kids Rooms - Country Living I wonder how those owners were able to pull it off.

If we were to split the one bedroom into two, I'm not so worried about live-able space, as these would be rooms for kids, there is enough room for a twin bed, small closet, dresser, etc. I'm mostly worried about building code consequences, or potentially resale consequences.*

Thoughts?

*(As an aside for additional context: this is a small house with small rooms - any future buyer who needs a lot of bedroom square footage would not want to buy this house anyway, so I'm not worried about fitting into the current large-scale ideal. In a perfect world we might bump up or bump out to make three larger upstairs bedrooms but financially and logistically we're not ready for that kind of project, whereas we could probably accomplish the room split in a short period of time with minimal disruption. And even after paying an electrician and plumber to add extra lighting and heat the total cost would be in hundreds vs thousands)

[K'ledgeBldr]

To answer the Immediate question-

R305.1 Minimum height. Habitable space, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet (2134 mm).

Exceptions:


1. For rooms with sloped ceilings, at least 50 percent of the required floor area of the room must have a ceiling height of at least 7 feet (2134 mm) and no portion of the required floor area may have a ceiling height of less than 5 feet (1524 mm).2. Bathrooms shall have a minimum ceiling height of 6 feet 8 inches (2032 mm) at the center of the front clearance area for fixtures as shown in Figure R307.1. The ceiling height above fixtures shall be such that the fixture is capable of being used for its intended purpose. A shower or tub equipped with a showerhead shall have a minimum ceiling height of 6 feet 8 inches (2032 mm) above a minimum area 30 inches (762 mm) by 30 inches (762 mm) at the showerhead.

The other part- Will Both "bedrooms" have a window that meets minimal code requirements(other means of egress)?

[tribechamy]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

To answer the Immediate question-

R305.1 Minimum height. Habitable space, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet (2134 mm).

Exceptions:


1. For rooms with sloped ceilings, at least 50 percent of the required floor area of the room must have a ceiling height of at least 7 feet (2134 mm) and no portion of the required floor area may have a ceiling height of less than 5 feet (1524 mm).2. Bathrooms shall have a minimum ceiling height of 6 feet 8 inches (2032 mm) at the center of the front clearance area for fixtures as shown in Figure R307.1. The ceiling height above fixtures shall be such that the fixture is capable of being used for its intended purpose. A shower or tub equipped with a showerhead shall have a minimum ceiling height of 6 feet 8 inches (2032 mm) above a minimum area 30 inches (762 mm) by 30 inches (762 mm) at the showerhead.

The other part- Will Both "bedrooms" have a window that meets minimal code requirements(other means of egress)?

Answering the last part first, yes, each would have one egress window, as well as each having a door to a common hallway (at least the way I'd like to set it up). I think I might like to put in a second window in each but have to see if it works out.

I think that I would meet the 50 percent ceiling height requirement, certainly on the dormered side, but I'd have to measure the other side more exactly.

Could you provide the source of what you've printed? Would love to read more. What is the required floor area?

Also I'm still wondering - for the photos I mentioned, do those rooms meet code? I'm from a part of the U.S. with older housing stock and I've seen any number of similar tiny awkward rooms. Are certain things grandfathered in? Do inspectors look the other way? Or is it all not a big deal? I want to do the right thing since whatever I do would be new construction but I'm curious.

Thanks! Tried to give points but apparently I've previously given you too many reputation points

[MrWillys]

Chapter 3 - Building Planning

[North Beach Person]

Generally most livability codes require a bedroom to be 10'X10', or some form of 100 sq. ft.

[tribechamy]

Thanks MrWillys! Good reading. And it looks like I have my answer in the form of minimum room dimensions.

Still interested in how this all applies to existing structures - for instance a reading tells me that our basement doesn't meet code for ceiling height (!) but this never came up at the housing inspection or any other part of the purchase process...

[nybbler]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Generally most livability codes require a bedroom to be 10'X10', or some form of 100 sq. ft.

Really? I've seen a ton of 9' x 10' and 9' x 9' bedrooms in new construction. Older houses are another story... if you could get a narrow-bunk mattress in it, someone would call it a bedroom.

[MrWillys]

Originally Posted by nybbler

Really? I've seen a ton of 9' x 10' and 9' x 9' bedrooms in new construction. Older houses are another story... if you could get a narrow-bunk mattress in it, someone would call it a bedroom.

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Generally most livability codes require a bedroom to be 10'X10', or some form of 100 sq. ft.

SECTION R304 MINIMUM ROOM AREAS

R304.1 Minimum area.
Every dwelling unit shall have at least one habitable room that shall have not less than 120 square feet (11 m[SIZE=2]2) of gross floor area. [/SIZE]

R304.2 Other rooms.
Other habitable rooms shall have a floor area of not less than 70 square feet (6.5 m[SIZE=2]2). [/SIZE]

Exception: Kitchens.

R304.3 Minimum dimensions.
Habitable rooms shall not be less than 7 feet (2134 mm) in any horizontal dimension.

Exception: Kitchens.

R304.4 Height effect on room area.
Portions of a room with a sloping ceiling measuring less than 5 feet (1524 mm) or a furred ceiling measuring less than 7 feet (2134 mm) from the finished floor to the finished ceiling shall not be considered as contributing to the minimum required habitable area for that room.

Chapter 3 - Building Planning

[North Beach Person]

The livability code we follow is 10X10. It probably varies between jurisdictions.

[MrWillys]

Originally Posted by tribechamy

Thanks MrWillys! Good reading. And it looks like I have my answer in the form of minimum room dimensions.

Still interested in how this all applies to existing structures - for instance a reading tells me that our basement doesn't meet code for ceiling height (!) but this never came up at the housing inspection or any other part of the purchase process...

Keep in mind that the code I'm quoting is from 2012. The code at the time of construction may have been different. Typically basement footage is not included.