No Egress. Still a bedroom??

[clark22601]

:new_newbie: I am appraising a house built in 1952. It's currently listed as a 3 bedroom house. The third room they're calling a bedroom is an interior "den" with no closet (which doesn't matter in my opinion). Their realtor told them they could put an additional door in the room leading to the family room and that would solve the problem of egress. I don't agree with this. Any opinions?

 

[Michigan CG]

According to my education and my local area a bedroom has a door, closet, is above grade and has a window. But other markets support different definitions.

 

[Greg Parker]

A bedroom in my market requires a window. Interior + no window = safety hazard, and is not viewed as a bedroom.

 

[Midwest Guy]

:new_newbie: I am appraising a house built in 1952. It's currently listed as a 3 bedroom house. The third room they're calling a bedroom is an interior "den" with no closet (which doesn't matter in my opinion). Their realtor told them they could put an additional door in the room leading to the family room and that would solve the problem of egress. I don't agree with this. Any opinions?

Your market will will be influenced by local occupancy codes! In the end it is your judgement how to label the rooms, based on what you know about your market.

Personally 98% of the time that 3rd BR, I will label as a den. If I get out of the metro area a little, where occupancy permits are not required, I get a little more willing to consider such things!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[xmrdfghap]

I agree with you. ALL building codes require a room for sleeping (a bedroom) to have egress to the outside or to a courtyard which can be accessed without going through the house. The second factor in having a window is ventilation. A bedroom MUST have sufficient ventilation to exchange the air in the room every 30 minutes. This can be supplied by a ventilation fan that provides outside air or it can be a window. As I recall, the BOCA Code states that an egress window must be wide enough to allow a fireman through it ( I believe that is 2'6"), and that there must be a minimum of 10% of the floor space in window area, 50% of which must open. That means a 10' x 10' bedroom (100 sf) MUST have a minimum of 10 square feet of window, 5 square feet which must be openable.

An interior room, without immediate access to the exterior, without adequate ventilation, and without privacy cannot be considered a bedroom regardless of how it is used by the occupants.

 

[Webbed Feet]

:new_newbie: I am appraising a house built in 1952. It's currently listed as a 3 bedroom house. The third room they're calling a bedroom is an interior "den" with no closet (which doesn't matter in my opinion). Their realtor told them they could put an additional door in the room leading to the family room and that would solve the problem of egress. I don't agree with this. Any opinions?

Ms. Clark,

Welcome to the forum.

Could you work on your posting wording a bit? .. Your third sentence, that I changed to brown, did you have a question or could you state what it is that is your opinion if you want a reaction to it? .. Your sentence that I changed to green, solve exactly what problem of egress?.. All I know is you don't agree with something that you failed to describe.

If I were an underwriter reading your post as descriptive comments in an appraisal, I would have no idea, or have to guess, what it was that was your opinion in the first case, or what it was that was the issue in the second case that you did not agree with.

If you want meaningful responses, you'll need to enlighten everyone considerably more in order to keep everyone from just guessing about what you needed to post for. .. By the way, this results in one of the best learning opportunities the forum offers, better written communication skills.

 

[Steve Owen]

Interesting question. I agree with most of what has been posted above, with emphasis on local codes and local market acceptance.

This gives me the chance to tell an interesting story. One vacation several years ago we went to New Orleans and stayed in the French Quarter. The hotel we stayed at, Plac D' Armes, had a location we liked and a really nice courtyard. Only problem is, the only rooms they had left were "interior" rooms. That's right, inside, with no window, only access being to a hallway.

We stayed a couple of nights before moving to a couryard room. But, my son made us leave the light on all night. Man, was it dark when we turned it off.

Now, I'm pretty sure that New Orleans has pretty strict fire codes for these old buildings. But, I worried a little about the safety issue.

 

[Pat Butler]

There's also the issue of your local market's reaction to such a room, regardless of how it 'legally' qualifies. So maybe it is not a bedroom, but contributes additional value because the typical buyer might use it as such.

 

[Wendy]

Ms. Clark,

Welcome to the forum.

Could you work on your posting wording a bit? .. Your third sentence, that I changed to brown, did you have a question or could you state what it is that is your opinion if you want a reaction to it? .. Your sentence that I changed to green, solve exactly what problem of egress?.. All I know is you don't agree with something that you failed to describe.

If I were an underwriter reading your post as descriptive comments in an appraisal, I would have no idea, or have to guess, what it was that was your opinion in the first case, or what it was that was the issue in the second case that you did not agree with.

If you want meaningful responses, you'll need to enlighten everyone considerably more in order to keep everyone from just guessing about what you needed to post for. .. By the way, this results in one of the best learning opportunities the forum offers, better written communication skills.

Ouch. Welcome to the Forum indeed!

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Make it simple, call it a den and be done with it. A bedroom should have a closet and a window.