Basement Bedroom Window Requirements Ontario

Building codes require a basement bedroom has a window for fire escape purposes.

Basement bedroom window requirements ontario.

As long as there is an egress window or door to the exterior somewhere in the basement you have met the bedroom egress requirement the report also notes. What might surprise you the most is that the fire code does not necessarily require a window in the bedroom itself. Light at least five per cent of the floor area served ventilation at least 0 28m or 3 ft or an adequate year round mechanical ventilation emergency escape. If a room is used as such it must provide a means of escape.

You must be able to do so without the use of additional tools or complicated instructions. As a homeowner in ontario you need to make sure that your bedroom and basement windows meet the required egress window standards. Emergency egress window requirements for bedrooms. They need to meet the criteria set forth by the national building code of canada nbcc.

I ve stood in many basement bedrooms with a buyer or seller talking about the fact that there is no closet or that the window may or may not be large enough to call the room a bedroom or to legally call it a bedroom. This may come as a relief to some people trying to plan out their basement apartment or additional basement bedroom but contrary to popular belief a bedroom in a basement in ontario does not require an egress window in the actual bedroom. An emergency escape requires that each bedroom must have a door that leads directly to the exterior of the building. Maximum sill height above floor.

The code requires every basement habitable attic and every sleeping room to have at least one operable emergency escape and rescue opening. 46 cm above the bedroom or basement floor. Minimum height of opening. 2 except for basement areas the window required in sentence 1 shall have a maximum sill height of 1 000 mm above the floor.

Also note that if basements have multiple sleeping rooms each sleeping room is individually required to provide a means of escape and rescue. Minimum width of opening. Egress windows must be more than 1 5 feet ca. 3 when sliding window s are used the minimum dimension described in sentence 1 shall apply to the openable portion of the window.

At a minimum the bottom of the window must be no more than 44 inches from the floor and that the actual opening be a minimum of 20 inches wide and 24 inches high.