basement egress vs. bilco door - your advice needed (furnace, windows, hot water heater)

[piperspal]

Hi Everyone! I have a 3200 sq. ft. ranch with a full basement. I want to have a bilco door installed and wonder if this would qualify as egress for a potential bedroom? If yes, does it have to be on one of the four walls for the bedroom?

Sorry if my question sounds confusing - not sure how to describe what I want. If I install the bilco door at one end, near the driveway, I could get a lot more use out of the basement. (work shop, craft space, etc.) Putting in a bedroom down there would probably be next to that space.

I also wonder if, from an aesthetics point, would I still want an egress window in bedroom for more natural light than the little code windows that are there now?

Your advice & thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[old_cold]

The last time I dealt with this, egress had to be direct from the room.
A call to whatever agency handles code enforcement in limbo can give you a definite answer since codes can vary

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by piperspal

Hi Everyone! I have a 3200 sq. ft. ranch with a full basement. I want to have a bilco door installed and wonder if this would qualify as egress for a potential bedroom? If yes, does it have to be on one of the four walls for the bedroom?

Sorry if my question sounds confusing - not sure how to describe what I want. If I install the bilco door at one end, near the driveway, I could get a lot more use out of the basement. (work shop, craft space, etc.) Putting in a bedroom down there would probably be next to that space.

I also wonder if, from an aesthetics point, would I still want an egress window in bedroom for more natural light than the little code windows that are there now?

Your advice & thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You are best to check with who ever is the regulating authority, if you have one.

Know the basics going in. Putting a bedroom in a basement, especially if it is completely underground on all four sides can be tricky. In general you have something like these principles.

Must have two escape routes / paths. Does not mean they must be extremely short. Example the stairway going up stairs can count, if that is used, must have the escape path hung with fire rated sheetrock. How the stairway up functions determines if it can be counted. Many places it can only be counted if it leads "directly" to an outside door. It ain't as cut and dried as some claim. A best good example, stairway up leds to a foyer off the kitchen and that has an exterior opening door. You want the escape pathway in enclosed areas like stairwells to be fire rated, can still be used if the rest of the house is burning like the dickens.

The escape path must "Be Direct". That can mean all sorts of things to all sorts of peeps. A bilco door probably can qualify depending on how the inner door is arranged, distance of the escape path, etc. The hickup there is the doors must be designed so they can not be permanently locked in a way that will prevent escape. Like with a padlock on the outside. That ability can not exist.

In general some common sense must be applied. You can not set up an escape path that requires a zig-zag path thru many other rooms.

The other principle is to protect the bedroom from hazards associated with utilities. Like hot water heater, furnace, etc. If they are also in the basement must be in their own lil room with a metal door. Usually must have fire and other alarms.

Most places a window escape path for the bedroom can count if it is designed for that function. Keep in mind many older houses never come close to meeting these type requirements for bedrooms up stairs, let alone in the basement.

You got to talk to the local Guru and see how reasonable they are. But in the long run you never want to build something that is a form of death trap, you must have a reasonable chance in an emergency. Never put small childern down there by themselves even if all the requirements are met.

[Coldjensens]

THe laws vary from one jurisdiction to the next. We had to have direct egress fromt eh bedroom. WE wanted light anyway. We put a bilco door into the laundry/utility part of the basement (unfinished part) and Egress windows in the bedrooms. We used very large windows (6' x 4') with neat plastic terraced window wells. The terrace forms the steps and makes a planter at each step as well. It is much nicer than a tin can with a ladder in it. It actually looks really nice. It was very expensive but you only have to buy it once.

One thing to watch out for. We have a 9' basement and the window wells were only made for 8' basements. We had to buy an extra loop for the well. Then we had to build a step in the bottom of the well to get to the first terrace level. Building the step is a problem. Wood will rot. Concrete will settle may crack and is expensive, especially for custom forming. We finally decided on wood. The step is not built yet. Still trying to fingure out the exace configuration.

[piperspal]

Thanks to all of you for your input! I had no idea there was so much to consider. I'm going to search the internet for photos of these different window well styles - the one with the planter sounds really cool.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by piperspal

Thanks to all of you for your input! I had no idea there was so much to consider. I'm going to search the internet for photos of these different window well styles - the one with the planter sounds really cool.

I will see if i can find the brand name and model. It was the most expensive type, but the cost was not all that much. It was 2 or 3 thousand for both of them. (plus installation).