A Burning Issue In the Basement

By Matthew Robb
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, January 7, 2006

When Wayne Green recently decided to transform his 27-year-old unfinished basement into a combination fifth bedroom, home theater and storage area, he began shopping for contractors and crunching numbers. It didn't seem as if it would be a huge project.

But there was one expense he didn't expect: adding a budget-busting window. The sobering news came from Fairfax County permit officials, who said his older basement had to be brought up to code. For Green, that meant adding an approved emergency exit.

After rejecting window bids as high as $8,000, the Springfield man settled on D&A Concrete Cutting Services, of Front Royal, which charged about $2,000 to install a 24-by-36-inch casement window.

That tidy sum might have bought a wide-screen television for Green's home theater, but complying with code was "the smart and right thing to do," he said.

"Some people say, 'Why do I have to be legislated to do every single thing?' " he said. "But from a safety standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to provide a means of escape to get your family out . . . in case of a fire."

Without an emergency exit, the results can be grim. For instance, on Jan. 5, 2002, a blaze swept through a Gaithersburg townhouse, killing four family members sleeping in the basement. According to the National Fire Protection Association, from 1999 to 2002, an average of 18,200 fires a year broke out in below-grade residential areas, killing 130 and injuring 940.

In response, building and fire codes in many jurisdictions require "emergency escape and rescue openings" in both new basements and certain older basements. The predictable result is a flurry of aftermarket products, competing manufacturer claims and homeowner confusion.

For new homes, the matter is simple. Since 2000 or so, all new basements -- with or without bedrooms -- must have a code-compliant escape and rescue opening. In addition, each bedroom in the basement must have its own escape window.

For older dwellings, questions typically center on two issues: Which older basements need an exit window? And what are the specifications regarding location, size, window type and installation?

A 'Finishing' Rule

Residential and fire codes are complex and vary among jurisdictions, but they share common features, said Roland Hall of the Philadelphia-based International Code Council.

Code typically does not require basements in older homes to have an escape opening, unless the dwelling has a below-grade bedroom or has recently been or is going to be modified, said Paul Lynch, director of residential inspections for Fairfax County.

Some homeowners are surprised to learn that a bedroom in a basement must be outfitted with a window, he said, but the applicable regulations date back several decades. If the bedroom predates these codes, however, a window generally is not required.

Tough, newer code requirements come into play when a permit is filed to finish an older basement, he said, even if there are no plans for a new bedroom. The rule of thumb is simple: If you substantially "finish" a basement, you must add a window.

"If you are finishing your basement in any way," Lynch said, "you need a second way out." "Finishing" includes the addition of a new home theater, family room, rec room or laundry room, he said. The effective date for this provision varies among jurisdictions, but Virginia observes Oct. 1, 2004, said Audrey Clark, director of building plans review for Fairfax County.

Most jurisdictions make a notable exception, exempting basements from the requirement for escape windows if the entire dwelling is fully sprinklered, said Tom Matzen, acting deputy director of Prince George's County's Department of Environmental Resources.

In some jurisdictions, a semantic loophole exists. If a person files a permit plan to finish the basement and identifies a proposed basement living space as anything other than a "bedroom" -- calling it a game room, lounge or such -- a window cannot be required for that space.

"We don't look for furnishings in the room," Lynch said. "We look at the approved plans and how the rooms are labeled."

But Lynch said the same person who wiggles his way through a regulatory loophole could win on a technicality but lose in a three-alarm fire.

"If you play that game," he said, "you are gambling with your life, your children's life or your guest's life. Going from being asleep to waking up and seeing fire blocking your only exit, that's called a deathtrap."

Matzen said code violators may escape the attention of inspectors but rental units are given close scrutiny. "We do get jurisdiction during the rental license inspection period and at that time will require compliance," he said.

Kevin Martell, code compliance officer for Montgomery County, said his office routinely fields complaints "from neighbors, civic associations and disgruntled tenants." Inspectors who find renters sleeping in what they deem a non-complying basement can order them to vacate the bedroom or face civil citation, he said.

Noting that standards, interpretations and compliance timetables vary by jurisdiction, Clark encouraged would-be renovators to consult their local permit officials.

Window Work

Green is an experienced weekend handyman. But after sizing up his window project, he decided to hire a contractor. "I think it's beyond the ability of a do-it-yourselfer," he said. The key stumbling block: cutting through 10 inches of reinforced concrete.

Jessup contractor Roger Grabinski said one of the installation challenges involves wielding a gas-powered concrete saw equipped with a 14-inch diamond-tipped blade. "It's not like a circular saw," he said. "This is a whole different animal."

After making cuts in the concrete, sometimes both inside and outside, "we literally just bust the wall out," he said. "Then we take a grinder, smooth out the edges to make sure it's all nice and clean, then mount [the] window. It creates a lot of dust."

The new or enlarged opening does not weaken a home's foundation, he said, but code still requires the installation of an overhead reinforcing steel brace, or lintel. Grabinski has installed basement openings as large as French doors, which typically require substantial excavation and a new staircase.

In below-grade applications, exit windows open into an outside window well or pit excavated next to the foundation. The installer holds back the surrounding soil with a manufactured well liner or corrugated steel arch, which is bolted to the dwelling's foundation. Rain that enters the well is diverted through an attached hose connected to the home's existing exterior drainage.

Woodbridge contractor Eric Morrison prefers one-piece well liners fabricated of seamless, high-impact plastic. "Because I come from a waterproofing background, I'm more concerned about water leaking into the house," he said.

Code specifies that the bottom of an exit window, or its "sill height," be no more than 44 inches above the basement floor. The window opening must measure at least 22 inches in height and 20 inches in width. The outside well's footprint must measure at least three feet square.

Code typically allows for the installation of sliding or casement windows. Grabinski said 30-inch-wide basement windows typically found in older basements do not need to be widened. "We just build it up using a taller window," he said. Clark said this enlarging process is important because it allows people to escape the dwelling -- and firefighters to get in.

Grabinski prefers windows that tilt open. "You just hit the tilt locks . . . and it opens like a big door," he said. The window must be operable without the use of a tool, Clark said.

Code typically requires deeper pits to have built-in stairs, to make it easier to escape. Some manufacturers offer steps that double as tiered flower planters, softening the well's visual impact. Code also may require placing a safety cover over the pit.

Without an emergency exit, escape from a burning basement can be difficult, said Pete Piringer, spokesman for Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service. While some people believe they can run up a flame-engulfed staircase, he's doubtful.

"That's difficult for firefighters to do in a full ensemble of fire fighting gear and breathing gear," he said.

Piringer said all basements -- and basement bedrooms -- should have working smoke detectors. Lynch said homeowners may balk at the cost of installing an exit window, but observed, "It also costs about $7,000 to get buried in Virginia."