Know the Rules for Finished Basements

Converting your basement is like finding new space, fully equipped with plumbing and heat. Before you begin your remodeling, however, you’ll need to check local codes for safety exits or egress.

Know Your Code

Basement living space requires emergency escape and rescue openings. Your first step is to check local building codes. Your code authority may have authored its own rules or it may be among the more than 90 percent of communities in the United States that adopt the standards of the International Code Council (ICC). The council is a nonprofit organization that publishes new editions of the codes every three years and, in interim years, produces a supplement. 

The ICC’s 2006 International Residential Code for One- and Two-Story Dwellings has new language stating that basements that contain one or more sleeping rooms are required to have emergency egress and rescue openings in each sleeping room. Emergency exit and rescue openings are not required in adjoining areas of the basement, according to the code.

Marc Nard, ICC technical expert, further explains which spaces require emergency egress or exit openings, saying emergency exits are required in basement sleeping rooms or habitable space — defined as spaces used for living, sleeping, eating, or cooking. While that does not include spaces like bathrooms, toilet rooms, closets, halls, storage spaces, or utility spaces, it does include offices, recreation rooms, bedrooms, and home theaters. 

There are some fine points. For example, a basement that has no bedroom but has an office would need an emergency exit for the office. But, says Nard, “Say you have a basement bedroom and an office which is not in the bedroom. How many emergency egress and rescue openings do you need? Answer: One, but it has to be in the sleeping room.”