Experienced Foundation Repair Specialists

Tag Archives: Egress windows

Egress Windows and Your Family’s Safety

We have been hearing a lot about safety in the Age of COVID. Everyone is wearing masks and keeping a social distance from each other. It’s been a difficult adjustment for all of us.

There is another way you and your family can remain safe. We covered some of the essential aspects of Egress windows in a previous blog

Egress windows are a seemingly unknown feature of most homes. The International Residence Code (2012) requires an egress in basement level living spaces. This code is essential in keeping you and your family safe. 

Egress windows have two main purposes: 

  1. Allow an exit in the event of an emergency. 
  2. Provide an entrance for firefighters.

They are required in all habitable places in the home. Especially for rooms which are used for sleeping purposes. If there is no egress, these habitable rooms become a dangerous fire trap. Basements that have bedrooms, fitness rooms, recreation rooms, media rooms, or home offices, are required to have egress windows.

Homeowners who are remodeling or renovating are also required to install egress windows for safety. No egress window means that the homeowner is unknowingly putting them and their family at risk.

The egress window requirements were developed for the average, able-bodied person, to be able to fit through the window and lift themselves up, and out the window. Maryland law only requires the minimum (Window wells are Egress window wells are required where the bottom of the egress window is below ground level. It must not interfere with the egress window fully opening and the distance from the egress window to the back must be 36”.) Check with your building inspector for code requirements. 

Fifty-one people died in residential fires in 2020. That statistic is lower than in previous years. Let’s lower it, even more, this year. 

M Taylor Enterprise has installed many Egress windows in the Montgomery County, Maryland area. We can install them efficiently and quickly.  Contact us at (301) 649-3406 or at matt@mtaylorenterprise.com for a free consultation.