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What is an Egress Window?

Answer:
An egress window is an adequately sized window

unit intended to provide an emergency escape route from a building (or even a bus or airplane).

In most residential building codes, especially for bedrooms, an egress window needs to meet specific size requirements. Normally, each bedroom must have at least one window large enough to allow occupants to escape in case of fire or other emergency. In addition, the emergency egress windows must allow a fully outfitted firefighter to enter the space.

An egress window must meet all of the following criteria to be acceptable and effective, in most building code requirements (building codes may vary by region):
o Must be 20 inches wide, minimum.
o Must be 24 inches high, minimum.
o Clear opening size must be 5.7 square feet (5.0 square feet acceptable for ground floor).
o Sill height must be no higher than 44 inches above the floor.

An egress window must also be simple to open from inside, so occupants don't have to figure it out during a fire or other evacuation emergency. As a suggestion, it might be a good idea to install stickers on bedroom windows (even "glow in the dark") designated as emergency egress; of course, this may already be part of your overall home emergency plan.