Master Bedroom Egress

Just got a call from a realtor that is flipping a house. The master bedroom has no windows. You can gain access from the hallway or through the attached master bathroom that has a door to the exterior of the home. His questions is will this pass as a proper egress in case of an emergency. Part of me thinks it will be ok because you have access to the exterior from the bathroom but without actually seeing the layout house first hand I want to err on the side of caution and say it wouldn’t in case the hallway entrance and the bathroom entrance are the the same proximity and a fire had engulfed both areas you wouldn’t have an egress in the actual room. Thoughts?

All bedrooms require a window, regardless of egress.

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Depends on where you are Chris. French and/or sliding glass doors w/o windows are sufficient in many areas.

But I do believe it’s up to what the local AHJ has adopted.

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And apparently this bedroom had neither.

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You are correct. Just stating that windows are not required in all bedrooms, but sufficient and easy egress is.

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technically a sliding glass door is technically a large window.

But who would want a bedroom without windows any how?

it was probably a bad design on the remodel. Just add a window, its not that hard.

Unless you don’t have an exterior wall. Many flips are done by people without a clue and sold by agents without a clue. Remodeling needs to meet current codes, call the AHJ in your area and ask.

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a bathroom with direct access to the exterior?..that has to be an interesting flip…just sayin…

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Depending your jurisdiction.

According to IRC 2018, I would say yes, it needs a window OR a door the the exterior.

image

Now, to define it-
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I’ll say that the bathroom offers an alternate exit ONLY if it has a passage lockset and not a privacy lock, which would block egress if improperly used. I’m in Maryland.

If the buyer is opting for a FHA type loan, the FHA specialist Appraiser will note that fact on his report and the mortgage underwriter will not clear-to-close that transaction because egress Windows in every sleeping room are a requirement in all FHA loan transactions.

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Claude … I just had an epiphany. Rather than asking you OR us - WHY doesn’t the flipper call his local code dept and ask them??

My only thought is–as an aside–my twenty-something children recently informed me that it is no longer acceptable to use the term “master” when referring to a bedroom. For what it’s worth…

Twenty something, you have so many children you’ve lost count! Must be h e double hockey sticks remembering all those names!:+1:

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Just like everything else, we all will forced in calling it the “Grande Bedroom”…

But on the flip side, as long as we don’t refer to the “extra” or “guest” bedrooms as "Servants’ " bedrooms, we should be Ok… :wink:

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Whoops, no, only two twenty-somethings! That’s funny though when I re-read it.

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If your a fan of the TV show Survivor (a long running reality contest type show), on last weeks episode, they announced that they would no longer use their catch phrase “come on in guys” when starting a challenge. Sign of the time I guess.

I am a fan…watched every season but the first. Will watch again tonight. Sign of the times indeed.

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I don’t tell the kids how to speak. I am not responsible for their feelings. The saying is, “if you don’t like the way you feel, change the way you THINK!” No one says change how others speak except snowflakes.

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