Questions on legally adding Square Footage/Code in Seattle?

Question

Hi, I would so appreciate some insight:

If you add a window that opens to a room that already has a closet and can fit a bed (but was never counted as a bedroom) can you then count that as a bedroom and change the house from a 4 bedroom to a 5 bedroom?  Does it have to be a particular window or just as long as you can escape/egress?  And how do you do add that bedroom legally with the tax department?

Also, if you remodel an attic and want to add all that square footage to the house's records, is there a rule that only the percentage of the attic that you can actually stand in, counts towards square footage?  I thought there was a rule about 7 foot ceilings?  So the attic will be about 1200 sq feet, but with attic, sloped ceilings.  Can we count the whole 1200sq feet or just a percentage?

Thanks!

Darren Chang · Answer

Hi, it sounds like your goal is to add value to your house by adding room and sq ft. According to IBC, each room needs an egress window, and the rule about the window is "the minimum opening area of the egress window is 5.7 square feet. The minimum egress window opening height is 24” high. The minimum egress window opening is 20” wide. with an opening no higher than 44 inches from the floor." Note the 5.7sf must be opening area. So if you use a double-hung window, only about half of the window's area is considered "opening area."

For the attic, the 7ft rule applies to toilet, storage, laundry etc. For livable space other than the above, it needs to be 7'-6". So you cannot count the entire 1200sf. You can only count the area within the occupiable space.

You should get permit with DOB for adding a bedroom. This is what legitimizes the modification and allow you to market the house as a 5-br than a 4-br. It sounds like you are not changing the building footprint, just converting an existing room to a bedroom. I expect the DOB would have no issue with it. What's the zoning of your house?