What You Call a Bedroom Might Not Be One

You might doze off in the family room every night, but that won't make it a bedroom when it comes time to sell the house.

Even though there is no universally accepted definition of a bedroom, local building codes spell out their requirements, most of which are intended to keep sleepers safe. The distinctions are important when shopping for a home, when putting one up for sale, or when an appraiser or tax assessor is trying to determine a property's value.

"Many people use rooms and put beds in them that may not be considered as a legal bedroom," said Laura Fall, owner of Fall Properties, a real estate agency in Arlington. One common requirement relates to size of the room. Generally, to qualify as a habitable room -- much less a bedroom -- a space must be at least 70 square feet and have a seven-foot ceiling. It must have heat and a suitable combination of electrical outlets and light fixtures.

That might seem cramped by modern tastes, but it's not uncommon to find bedrooms in older homes that barely qualify. For example, Fall said the Arlington Forest neighborhood in Northern Virginia has many houses with tiny bedrooms, measuring about 8 by 10 feet.

Another key part of the definition of a bedroom is a window -- and not just any window. It needs to be openable, and big enough for a person to escape through in an emergency.

Daniel McHugh, manager of code enforcement in Montgomery County, said that in his jurisdiction, a bedroom has to have an egress window that is no higher than 44 inches from the floor and a clear opening of five square feet.

Older basement windows frequently do not meet that standard. "The kind of casement windows . . . where you reach up and unlock it . . . that's not going to work," said Jon Wolford, managing broker for Long & Foster's Springfield office. "The window must be large enough for a fairly good-sized individual to get through."

Fall said she has had clients add egress windows to basement rooms, at a cost of $3,000 to $5,000.

In Howard County, the window must face the outdoors, at or above ground level, and be equal to least 8 percent of the floor space to allow for adequate natural illumination, said Kathleen Sloan-Beard, a spokeswoman for the county.

In Frederick County, the window must also have a screen, said Jennifer Short, director of housing and community development.

Some jurisdictions require closets. The rules in Howard County, for example, call for a closet of "adequate size," but don't specify beyond that, Sloan-Beard said.

Thomas R. Davidson, an agent with Weichert's Dupont Circle office, said that no matter what is required, most real estate agents would expect a bedroom to have a closet, and most buyers would, too. That's an expectation that sellers should keep in mind. "I have walked into bedrooms where people have permanently built in armoires" to get around that issue, he said.