TL;DR
An egress window is a window large and low enough to serve as an emergency escape and rescue opening from a bedroom or finished basement, meeting IRC R310 minimums: 5.7 square feet of clear opening (5.0 at grade floor), at least 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. Adding a basement bedroom almost always means cutting the foundation for one.
What it means
An egress window is a window large and low enough to serve as an emergency escape and rescue opening from a bedroom or finished basement, meeting IRC R310 minimums: 5.7 square feet of clear opening (5.0 at grade floor), at least 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. Adding a basement bedroom almost always means cutting the foundation for one. It must open from inside without keys or tools, and bars or covers must release without special knowledge.
Where it sits in the glossary
Egress window is part of the Permits group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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