Nowadays, in Canada and also in the USA, every building code requires egress windows for their basement and also bedrooms.
The egress window will offer an emergency exit so that one can open it from the inside easily without using any key or tools. Bars, grills, storm windows, or any screens over the emergency exits must also open from inside without the help of any tools or keys.
Let us also know the benefits as well as a few egress window limitations in the following paragraphs.
The pros of egress windows
Here is the list of reasons why you must have egress windows in the building:
1.Safety
Having an egress window installed in each bedroom, and also in other areas like basements can drastically increase the chances of your safe escape in case there is a major fire, and it can provide entry points into the home as an emergency route.
2. Added value
The egress windows addition to your basement can always increase your value of the home since it will be the key to bring basement bedrooms up to code. Also, it will be included in the calculations of your overall square footage.
You could recover almost 10 – 20 times your cost of window installation when you will eventually sell the home.
3. Added comfort
By installing an egress window particularly in your basement, you can brighten your otherwise dark and dingy room dramatically. This is not surprising as most building codes need egress windows that must provide a minimum of 5.7 square feet. That is sufficient to offer natural ventilation.
4. Design
You need not have any basement egress window by using ugly corrugated tin. You can build an egress window with stone, wood, or brick if your budget is not an issue.
You can also purchase composite window that mimics any natural materials, thus making your basement egress windows, practical, attractive, cost-effective, and also easy to install.
The cons of egress windows
The following are a few cons of having egress windows:
5. Building codes may vary
You must also keep in your mind that building codes may vary from one place to another place, so you must be sure while building a house, you and also your contractor is fully aware of what specific requirements will satisfy the local municipality of your area.
If your building inspector ever finds that the egress window has fallen shorter than required in any way, then you will have to rebuild it again.
6. Moisture and basement egress windows
Often moisture problems are a very common issue in basement windows, especially if the basement has a past history of having any moisture-related issues. For avoiding them, you must make sure that your window well must be dug up to the suitable depth beneath the window, and also take all other preventative measures, like installing drainage systems in the basement and ensure your gutter drains run away from the home.
7. Inconvenience
You must be prepared to face many other inconveniences that are totally unavoidable with this kind of project.
However, you have to make sure that you have egress windows installed in your building to keep it safer.
