This year it seems that everyone is shoveling snow.  No matter where you live in the country.  There seems to be snow EVERYWHERE!  My question; is that snow making it impossible to use your Egress Window?  Please be sure to clear off your egress well cover so that lifting it in case of an emergency is easy.  Too much weight from accumulated snow on top of your cover can make it difficult or impossible to open.  More house fires occur during the winter than any other time of the year.  So now is the time to be sure to keep yourself safe.

Look at all of the potential emergency exists in the house as well.  Is there a backdoor you can not open due to the snow piled up against it?  Doors that swing outwards can easily be blocked by snow.  Don’t find yourself trapped in an emergency.  Shovel out around every exit of your house with each snowfall.

While you are at it, if you have a fire hydrant on or near your property, clear a path to that too.  This will save precious time by an emergency crew should they dispatched to your area.  A rapid response by firefighters can mean life or death in some instances.  Having a fire hydrant hidden or buried by snow can really impede this response.  Clearing the snow away from hydrants is the neighborly thing to do.  And it may just save your own life as well.

Get out there and clear a path to safety.  The life you save may be your own.

National Fire Prevention Week dates back to 1922, and occurs every year during the week that includes October 9^th.

The reason October 9^th was picked it because it’s the date of the Great Chicago Fire – one of the greatest fires in modern history, which destroyed more than 17,000 structures in 1871, and left over 100,000 people homeless.

The Great Chicago Fire is perhaps the biggest example of something that happens every day – one thoughtless, seemingly inconsequential act that can result in a devastating fire.

For decades, the Chicago Fire was blamed on one of “Mrs. O’Leary’s cows” knocking over a lantern, starting a fire in her milking barn. Today, historians suspect it was actually lit in similar circumstances to many of today’s fires – perhaps by a couple of neighborhood boys smoking cigarettes in the barn, and leaving a butt smoldering.

In any event, the week is recognized across North America as a time to address common causes of fires, and how to prevent them. It’s also a time to check up on your own fire safety gear, which might make the difference between life and death if a blaze starts off in your home.

Good places to start are by checking that your fire alarms are in good working order. Many people think fire alarms are kind of annoyance – especially when they chirp because of a low battery warning. However, these silent little guardians save thousands of lives a year; and every October you should check and replace the batteries to make sure they work when you need them too.

In your kitchen, you should also make sure you have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket – and check that they’re ready for action. Fire extinguishers have a pressure gauge on the side, which should indicate that the extinguisher is full and ready to be used. Be sure to replace any faulty extinguishers, or one that’s been used.

Finally, it’s important to check the rest of your house for potential fire hazards. Chief amongst these is to make sure your fire escapes and means of egress are easily accessible. A means of egress is simply an alternative exit to your home; and one that has been proven to save lives in the event of a fire.

It’s national building code to have a means of egress in your basement, like one of the basement window wells and egress windows that we sell. Because basements are often the first place deadly smoke accumulates, they can quickly become deathtraps if the main stairs or exits are blocked. A basement window well offers an escape route for people trapped downstairs, and a way for firefighters to enter your building during a blaze.

Make sure that your egress windows are easily accessible, and function properly. If they’re connected to a basement window well, make sure it’s not blocked or covered, so in the event of a fire people can use it to escape the building quickly and safely.

And if you haven’t yet installed an egress window in your basement? Please check out our FAQs and products and make sure you consider doing so. It’s something we recommend during Fire Prevention Week that could save lives at any time during the year.

For more information about Fire Prevention Week, check out the National Fire Prevention Association webpage here.

There are a whole host of reasons why basement egress windows are a good addition to your home – including better air circulation, more natural light and simply better aesthetics. But as this recent story from St. Paul, Minnesota reminds us – the most important reason for having them is to save lives.

The St. Paul Star Tribune recently published an article that serves as a chilling reminder of the importance of a safe means of egress. It reported the narrow escape of a St. Mary’s University graduate, who was trapped inside her parent’s basement when the house caught fire.

22-year-old Darlene Centeno was home from Winona visiting her parents, and fell asleep in the basement of their St. Paul home. When a fire broke out, she was trapped downstairs; and only barely escaped by wriggling out of a tiny basement window.

“It was only because of her size and age was she able to save herself,” explained Jamie Novak, a fire investigator who was looking into the cause of the blaze.

This marks the third near-fatal incident since November involving people trapped in basements. The first led to the death of man whose mattress caught fire in his North Lexington Avenue basement apartment. The second involved a 9-year-old girl, who was hospitalized for over a week and left with permanent scars after she barely escaped a blaze in her Dayton’s Bluff home.

In all three incidents, the most dangerous factor was the lack of a means of egress in the basement. Had a basement window well been installed, it’s likely no deaths or injuries would have occurred.

“We run into that all the time in basements that don’t have safe escape routes,” said Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. “You need two ways out.”

That’s exactly what a basement window well offers – a ‘means of egress’ or alternative exit to a basement, in case the stairs get blocked.

National building code requires that all furnished and finished basements have a means of egress – the reason issues like those reported in St. Paul continue to occur is because many older homes, or those with illegal basement apartments, aren’t up to modern building code.

It’s not optional, though. No matter how old your home, the law requires you to have a means of egress installed – and there’s much more at stake if you fail to do so than just a fine or a write up by the city. You could be putting people’s lives at risk.

Before

With the housing market on the road to recovery, a lot of homeowners are looking to see how they can leap-frog the competition and get their houses back to full market value as quickly as possible. Finishing any available basement space is a smart way to do just that.

Just think about it – creating a basement apartment, or just extra livable space in a basement, can easily add hundreds of square feet to a home’s footprint; and offer great options for second bedrooms, home offices or media rooms.

But if a renovation isn’t done right, it can actually hurt the value of your home.

How? Because if your basement renovation doesn’t meet building code, buyers will generally deduct the price of fixing your mistake from your asking price.

So what does it take to make sure that doesn’t happen?

First and foremost, you need to examine current building code to make sure your basement renovation plans meet the standards. Chief amongst those is that your basement has a ‘means of egress’.

A means of egress is an escape route – an easily-accessible exit in the event of a fire or other emergency. It’s standard building code that all basement dwelling space needs to have a basement window or other exit installed to offer a means of escape if the stairs end up blocked or destroyed.

A standard egress window option is to install a ‘window well’ on the outside of your home – this is a molded pit which sinks down far enough to allow an external-facing window to be installed in the basement wall. In addition to letting natural light and air in (never a bad thing) an egress basement window can be opened wide enough for somebody to climb out of it – and then out of the basement window well by means of a ladder or molded steps.

There’s no way to sugar-coat it – installing a basement window well and egress window is a process. In addition to digging a hole, filling with pea-fill and cutting a hole in the wall of your basement, a lot of time and consideration has got to go into drainage, positioning and other factors that make sure your basement egress window performs as it should; and meets code.

After

But in terms of home renovations, the benefit is that installing an egress basement window is one of the few investments almost guaranteed to pay off. The initial time and investment will be repaid many times over by the quality of living space, and the improvement to a home’s value.

And, should the worst happen, installing a basement egress window can offer a benefit that no price tag can be attached to. It could save somebody’s life.

Renovating or refinishing a basement is a fantastic way to increase the livable space in your home, and increase your property values.

However, it’s a project worth doing right – if your basement space isn’t completed to match building code, it can actually hurt your home’s value – and, even worse, pose a life-threatening risk to anybody occupying it.

Basement apartments are at the top of the list when it comes to basement projects that require attention to safety details. Features like kitchens and water-heaters pose the same risk of fire as they do in homes above ground; but with the added concern of requiring a safe and accessible means of exit.

That’s why you should make sure to address the following when you’re finishing a basement apartment space:

• Do you have a fire alarm installed? Fire alarms save thousands of lives every year; and in a basement space they’re especially important. Triggered by smoke, they can alert a family to the presence of fire before the smoke becomes overpowering; which is one of the leading causes of death or injury in basement fires. Make sure you have fire alarms installed in your basement space; and check them regularly to make sure they’re working properly.
• Are there fire extinguishers at hand? In the event of a fire, it’s often possible to contain the blaze before it gets out of hand. In order to do that, though, you’ll need a fire extinguisher; and that’s something many home owners forget. Fire extinguishers come in a variety of different types. The most appropriate for use in a basement apartment are multi-purpose extinguishers that have a Class B and Class C rating. These can be used safely on grease and oil fires, and on electric fires. Check them periodically to make sure they’re ready for use, and always replace a fire extinguisher if you have to use it.
• Is there a means of egress? A ‘means of egress’ is the technical term for a fire exit – a means of getting out of a basement without relying on stairs. According to building code, all residential basements are required to have a means of egress installed. The only problem? That doesn’t necessarily mean they do!  Installing a basement window that can be used as a means of egress is an essential safety feature for any finished basement. It doesn’t just ensure the basement meet building code – it can also make the difference between life and death in the event of an emergency.

Sadly, too many people only consider safety features like these when it’s too late – when they actually need them. Make sure you’re not one of them. Check out the egress window options we have available on this site, and do some further research on fire alarms and fire extinguishers soon.

Basements are one of the most functional areas of any home – a great place to locate important utilities like a furnace, hot water heater and electric boxes out of sight, and away from children.

But utilities are one of the leading causes of fires – so placing them downstairs, in a basement, increases the risk of a basement fire. If one breaks out – does your basement have a means of egress?

A means of egress is simply an escape route – in a basement, most commonly an egress basement window and window well. These are large, fully-functional windows that can be opened wide enough from the inside to allow people to crawl out of them – and let firefighters crawl in. That’s why it’s now part of national building code to have a means of egress installed in your basement.

If you’re in the process of installing a basement window, we recommend giving some serious thought to where your household utilities are located first – and consider how that might influence the smartest and safest place to install your means of egress. You want to make sure that a utility fire doesn’t block access to a resident’s means of escape!

This involves mapping out where potential fire risks are – like water heaters, and a basement kitchen if there is one – and then plotting out escape routes from every room in the basement. You want to make sure that if a fire breaks out in one particular area, it won’t block access to both the stairs out of the basement and your egress basement window.

This will sometimes mean you have to place your basement window well somewhere other than you’d first planned to – like shifting it from a bathroom to a bedroom. But while this might impact some of the aesthetic qualities an egress window adds – like natural sunlight, and a source of fresh air – it’s worth the inconvenience because it could save somebody’s life.

And, at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.

If the stairs to your basement are made from wood, a means of egress is especially important.

The vast majority of American homes are made using simple wooden framing in their construction – and while this is an affordable, durable and versatile material; it’s also vulnerable to fire.

As a result, one of the “hot spots” of fire risk has always been basement stairs. If they’re made of wood, they can quickly become inaccessible and unsafe in the event of a fire; trapping people downstairs.

This is why adding a means of egress to your basement is so important – in fact, egress basement windows and basement window wells have saved so many lives over the years that basement windows are now a required part of national building code.

Egress basement windows are large windows that open inwards, allowing people to crawl out of them, and firefighters and emergency workers to crawl in. They can quite literally save lives; giving people trapped in a basement fire a way to get out before they’re overcome by smoke or overwhelmed by fire.

Depending on the depth of your basement, egress windows are paired with basement window wells – rigid shapes buried in the ground that feature built-in steps or ladders; helping those escaping a blazing basement to crawl to ground level.

Adding a means of egress to your window isn’t negotiable – but it doesn’t need to break the bank. Check out our range of complete egress window kits for package deals that include everything you need to install a basement window well and window – with options to suit any budget or installation location.

You can also check out our nationwide list of trusted independent window installers, if you’re not equipped to install the window well yourself. You can also find some great tips and tricks to prevent flooding and other issues that might arise if you don’t install your well correctly.

Done right, an egress basement window doesn’t just add an essential life-saving feature to your basement. It can also transform subterranean residential space by providing fresh air, natural light and other great benefits.

2008 was a rough year for a lot of Americans – but for Dave Buchanan, it was harder than most.

That was the year he was due to retire, and unfortunately cashing in his 401k coincided with one of the worst stock market crashes in American history.

“I ended up getting less out of my 401k than what I’d paid into it,” Dave explains. “I was gutted.”

Fortunately, Dave’s canny financial planning meant that he and his wife weren’t reduced to eating Ramen noodles as a result of their altered financial circumstances – but it did change a lot of the plans Dave had for the future.

“We’d hoped to travel more, maybe buy an RV,” Dave admits, “but those plans got shelved.” Another ambition they’d had was also impacted.

“We’d hoped to leave a good inheritance for the kids,” Dave explains. “But that also didn’t turn out the way we’d planned.”

Dave and his wife had paid off their home a few years earlier, but even the value of that was hit hard by the recession. However, it was through their home that Dave planned to recoup some of their devastating losses.

“After speaking to a few financial advisers, I developed a plan,” Dave explains. “Instead of saving up my money to leave as an inheritance, I thought it would be smarter to reinvest it.”

And that reinvestment took the form of a basement remodel.

“We had a large basement in our home,” Dave explains, “but it was unfinished. After talking to a few people, we figured that a great way to get a return on the cash we did have was to spend it on finishing up the basement.”

Refurbishing the basement promised to add another 650 square feet to Dave’s house; and that translated to a major bump in their property value.

“The only challenge was that we needed the basement to be up to code.” Originally built in the 1940s, Dave’s house had a basement that lacked the safety basics modern homes get built with. One such essential was a “means of egress” – an emergency exit in the event of a fire or disaster.

“We were daunted at the cost of putting in a basement window well and egress window,” Dave admits. “It looked like an awful lot of expense and work.”

Fortunately, that’s where we came in. Our Complete Egress Kits include everything needed to complete an egress window installation – and are guaranteed to be code compliant.

For the entire month of May receive 10% off the entire line of St. Paul products.  Including all StoneWall Egress Kits, StoneWall Egress Wells, Safe-T-View Covers, and Life Step Egress Ladders.

Start shopping here – 10% Off St. Paul