Sunview Windows - The Best Place to Look For Basement Egress Window Services
When planning to renovate your basement and extend your living space, Sunview knows what is required to meet fire codes in a bedroom. If you wish to add a bedroom or bring a current one up to code, have Sunview add a basement egress window in Edmonton.
How Sunview Windows can help?
Sunview Windows can help you installation of a basement egress window in your Edmonton home. We have a selection of egress windows that are meant for finished basements. Our windows meet current IRC code regulations. When we’ve done our job, you can enjoy peace of mind about your safety in the event of an accident or fire.
An egress window is a very easy-to-open option and works as an emergency exit from the bedroom.
A Basement egress window code is a legal requirement in Edmonton intended to ensure a person can escape a building through a window in an emergency. Most codes also require the windows to be large enough for a fully outfitted firefighter to enter through them. The term "egress" simply means a direct method of leaving a building, and an egress window code requires each bedroom in a home to have a direct exit available in the event of a fire or other emergency.
Building codes often are regulated locally, so there may be differences in the specific requirements for escape routes. In general, though, an egress window code requires a window for each bedroom in a home, as well as one in the basement, if it contains liveable space. If there are individual bedrooms in the basement, a separate egress window is required for each.
Most local communities in Canada have based their building codes on the International Residential Codes (IRC) created by the International Code Council, a membership organization that promotes building safety and fire prevention. These codes were developed with input from both organization members and the construction industry. The IRC includes specifications for egress window sizes and locations, which vary slightly depending on which floor of the house the bedroom is on.
Since older home in Edmonton often have very small basement windows, it's common to require a renovation to install a basement egress window in your foundation. This may involve cutting the concrete and digging out the ground so that the window that meets Edmonton egress codes.
Installing more windows also alleviate the “dungeon” like feeling that is very common in many basements. Artificial lighting and stale air can make living in this area difficult, but egress windows add natural lighting and ventilation.
Check out our selection of basement egress windows and we’ll help you choose what works best for you. After the selection process, let take care of the installation service. Our crew of experienced installers have done this many times and you’ll love their work.
Visit Sunview Windows to know more about the products and services available to you.
Emergency Egress
For buildings in Edmonton or Alberta, of 3 stores or less and except where a bedroom door provides access directly to the exterior or the suite is sprinkled, each bedroom shall have at least one outside egress window which may be opened from the inside without the use of tools or special knowledge.
Windows referred to above shall provide unobstructed openings with areas not less than 0.35 m (3.77 Sq/ft) with no dimension less than 380 mm (15 in.). If the window referred above is provided with security bars, the security bars shall be installed so they may be opened from the inside without the use of any tools or special knowledge.
People often confuse the size of the window with the size of the opening. The only measurement that inspectors care about is the size of the actual opening you can crawl out of. This is what makes a window meet egress. Not the size of the window itself, but how much open space you have when the window is open.
When Fires Occur
Although bedroom windows are not considered to be ordinary escape routes, using them in an emergency has saved many occupants. In a very short time, and in as little as three minutes, a small fire in a room can build up and create conditions so hot that everything will suddenly burst into flames (flashover).
Create clouds of thick, black smoke that hang from the ceiling. Cause temperatures to reach 300°C (572°F) – hot enough to melt clothes to skin and scorch lungs. Create toxic gases like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and other irritants that affect eyes, nose, throat and lungs, numbing the senses. Therefore, it is important to have a simple plan of exiting a building when there is little or NO TIME, conditions are DARK, the room is HOT, and the environment is DEADLY.
Sunview Windows and Doors is experienced with egress codes in Edmonton and all over Alberta. If you have old basement windows that don't pass egress requirements, we will have a solution for you. Sunview even has a style of egress windows that are manufactured in Europe. These egress windows require a smaller rough opening which means you may be able to avoid costly concrete cuts and window wells, especially in the basement since windows are almost always in the foundation.
WE MAKE CUT OUT TO DESIRED SIZE FOR EGRESS CODE.
