- Home
- Egress windows
Sleeping rooms and basements
Egress windows in Spokane
A bedroom window has to leave a clear opening large enough to climb through. Washington uses the residential code, with a narrower exception for some replacements that are not a change of use.
An egress window is the emergency escape and rescue opening for a sleeping room. It is also how a firefighter gets in. It is not a comfort upgrade, and a window that merely "looks big" can still miss the clear opening the code measures.
The sizes people have to plan around
Washington adopts the International Residential Code with amendments. The model code's usual minimums, in section R310.2, are the ones building departments still explain to homeowners:
- Net clear opening at least 5.7 square feet. Grade-floor and some below-grade openings can be 5.0 square feet.
- Net clear height at least 24 inches, and net clear width at least 20 inches. Meeting one minimum does not make the area pass. A window that is exactly 24 by 20 is only 3.3 square feet.
- Sill no more than 44 inches above the finished floor.
- If the opening is below grade, a window well. The model code calls for at least 9 square feet of well area, with the width and the projection at least 36 inches, and a ladder or steps when the well is deep.
Confirm the current local reading before anyone cuts the wall. Washington's amendments, including the escape-opening section under WAC 51-51-03100, are what the building official enforces. The clear opening is measured with the sash open, from inside, without tools.
Replacing a window is not always the same as creating a bedroom
WAC 51-51-4502 covers replacement windows. The emergency-escape sizes can be waived for a replacement when all of this is true: the new window is the manufacturer's largest standard size that fits the existing frame or rough opening, the style matches or provides an equal or larger opening, and the project is not a change of use.
Turning a basement storage room into a bedroom is a change of use. So is any project whose point is a new sleeping room. Those quotes should assume the full clear opening, a well if the sill is below grade, and a header if the hole in the wall gets wider. That is excavation and framing, not a sash swap, which is why a basement egress price does not belong on the same line as a vinyl insert.
Put "basement bedroom" or "existing bedroom window" in the project details so the contractors know which rule they are pricing. This site does not pull the permit and does not decide which exception applies.
Questions about egress
How big does an egress window have to be?
The model International Residential Code, which Washington adopts with state amendments, generally requires a net clear opening of at least 5.7 square feet, at least 24 inches of clear height, at least 20 inches of clear width, and a sill no higher than 44 inches above the floor. Grade-floor openings can be 5.0 square feet. The building department measures the clear opening the sash actually leaves, not the catalog frame size.
Can a replacement window be smaller than that?
Washington's replacement rule in WAC 51-51-4502 can exempt a replacement from the full emergency-escape sizes when the new window is the manufacturer's largest standard size that fits the existing frame or rough opening, the operating style is the same or opens at least as much, and the work is not a change of use. Adding a sleeping room, which is what many basement bedroom projects are, is a different case and usually has to meet the full opening rules. The building official decides.
Get free quotes
Tell us about the windows. We share the request with up to three independent local contractors. They set the price. You decide whether to hire.