Egress Windows in Bedrooms and Basements

Two windows that look identical from the street can open to very different clear sizes once the sash is swung. An egress window is the one a person can climb through in an emergency, and the difference shows up in the tape measure, as the notes at window installers austin healthy home mkt describe. Installers working on bedrooms in Austin, TX check that opening before anything is ordered, as a matter of general practice.

Clear opening, not frame size

The number that matters is the clear opening: the actual space left once the sash is open, with the frame, the track and the hardware taken out of the count. A double hung only opens half of its frame height. A single hung opens even less. A casement swings out on a hinge and gives most of its area back, and a slider gives half of its width. Installers measure the clear width and clear height with the sash open and write both on the schedule.

Sill height

The height of the sill above the floor is the second check. A window set too high is hard to climb through, no matter how large the glass is. If the sill sits high, the wall gets reframed lower, which means opening the header and the studs. That is carpentry first, and the window comes after.

Below grade rooms

A basement or a half buried room is different. The window sits against soil, so a window well has to be dug, lined and drained. Around Austin, rock close to the surface, a result of the Balcones Fault and the limestone it exposes, makes that digging slower than people expect, and the Texas Hill Country west of the city is the same story. Heavy rain also fills a well in an hour, so the drain gets attention.

Which unit suits the opening

A casement is the common choice for egress because it opens wide and seals well, particularly in a vinyl window or a fiberglass window frame. A slider can serve if its clear opening is large enough. Awning styles are often too short to count. Tempered glass may also be needed, since many egress openings sit low in a wall, and a picture window beside it can stay fixed.

Before the swap

An installer checks the old frame, the header above it, the sill pan and the path outside. A window screen that cannot be released from inside or a security bar that does not unlatch will defeat the whole point. The final walk-through includes opening the window from inside with one hand, which shows quickly whether the unit works as an exit.