Is my window too high off the floor for emergency egress? Manufactured Homes Rules.
Wenatchee Home Inspection Services.
This is a quiz for those who sell and do home inspections on Manufactured Homes. What is the required sill height for egress windows/emergency escape and rescue?
Well lets look into this a bit.
Most of us home inspectors know that the IRC (2012 IRC- 310.1) requires a sill height of not more than 44 inches measured from the finished floor to the bottom of the clear opening.
But the standard for a manufactured home is actually different. Manufactured home use the HUD standards which are define in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR’s) specifically 24 CFR Part 3280 - “MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS”
Here is the HUD Standards for egress windows-
CFR 3280.106 Exit facilities; egress windows and devices.
(a) Every room designed expressly for sleeping purposes, unless it has an exit door (see§ 3280.105), shall have at least one outside window or approved exit device which meets the requirements of § 3280.404, the “Standard for Egress Windows and Devices for Use in Manufactured Homes.”
(b) The bottom of the window opening shall not be more than 36 inches above the floor.
(c) Locks, latches, operating handles, tabs, and any other window screen or storm window devices which need to be operated in order to permit exiting, shall not be located in excess of 54 inches from the finished floor.
(d) Integral rolled-in screens shall not be permitted in an egress window unless the window is of the hinged-type.
Manufactured home uses AAMA standard 1704-85 which is very similar to the IRC requirements of egress window openings.
You see the Manufactured Home actually has a stricter requirement that requires 36 inches above the floor versus the 44 inches required by the IRC along with only a 5.0 Sq. Ft. opening requirement like the IRC for grade floors.
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NCW Home Inspections, LLC is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…
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