What Is An Egress Basement Door?

Egress windows aren’t the only way to make your basement safer and more comfortable. Egress basement doors give you all the convenience of a door right into your basement, no trudging up the stairs needed, an escape route in the event of an emergency, and can really brighten up your space. Basements are required to have a certain number of exit points in the event of an emergency if you intend to use them as living spaces. Egress basement doors don’t just fit the bill, they also help make your basement somewhere people would want to live, too.

Here’s what you need to know about egress basement doors. 

What Is An Egress Basement Door?

Just because there are doors in your basement does not mean that you have egress basement doors. Basement egress doors provide a safe exit route out of your basement, and need to meet specific safety requirements in order to qualify as such. The point of an egress door is not mere convenience to get in and out of your home, but to make escaping as easy as possible. 

The codes for egress doors can vary depending on where you live. Peak Windows will ensure that your basement egress doors meet all current safety codes. In general, you should be able to easily open the door, which means no deadbolts or other locks that keep it closed. It should lead out into an open space, like your yard, not pass through a garage. It should be visible at all times, which means no curtains or cabinets blocking the way. 

You can always ask your local building code office about what is necessary to make a basement door an egress door.

Do Egress Basement Doors Swing In Or Out?

This is an important detail with egress doors. People typically presume that you want your basement doors to swing inwards, so that the hinges are inside your home and you don’t have to worry about a burglar unhinging it and breaking into your home. However, with egress basement doors, you want them to swing out, according to NFPA 101. 

This is because when the door swings out in the direction that you’re going, it makes escaping your home a lot easier. If it opened inwards, you would need to maneuver around your door in order to get out and something could obstruct its pathway, trapping you inside. There are cases where doors can swing inwards, in regards to classrooms and corridors, but for your home, your egress basement door should swing out in the direction you’d be fleeing.

Is A Walkout Basement Considered Egress?

If you already have a walkout basement, you may be wondering whether or not that means you have egress basement doors. The truth is: it depends. Not all walkout basements are egress. Just because you have a ground-level exit doesn’t mean it meets the egress requirements. In order for your walkout basement to be egress, you’ll need to ensure that it has an egress basement door, or other features, like egress windows. 

Do You Need An Egress Window If You Have An Egress Door?

If your basement already has an egress door, do you really need egress windows too? Again, this depends. In many cases, you don’t need egress windows in a walkout basement if you have egress doors, because the doors often meet the requirements for egress windows to serve as escape routes. 

However, if your basement consists of multiple different living spaces that are divided up into their own separate rooms, then yes, you will need to have egress windows installed in each living space, to ensure that they all have easily accessible escape routes in them. Your basement will need to have enough egress windows in order to meet the egress requirements. Again, if you have any questions about egress requirements, your local building code office will be able to answer them for you. 

Can You Add An Egress Basement Door?

So, just because your basement has doors does not automatically mean you have egress doors… Can you add egress basement doors then? Yes, yes, you can. Peak Windows provides exceptional egress basement door services. 

Installing egress basement doors can be quite a difficult process, since it requires cutting into the foundation of your home and following strict safety codes, but the professionals here at Peak Windows are experienced in this type of work. If you’ve been considering adding basement egress doors, don’t hesitate to contact us today to learn more or to get a quote.