Thursday, September 11, 2014

Can you call it a bedroom without a closet?

Can you call it a bedroom without a closet?

1. Entrance: A bedroom needs at least two methods of egress. It should be accessible from within the house (door or an entrance where a door could be reasonably installed), and then have one other exit (window or door).

2. Escape: A bedroom must have one other method of egress beyond the entrance point. A door to the exterior or a window is required.

3. Ceiling Height: 50% of a bedroom ceiling needs to be at least 7 ft tall. If a portion of the area is say 5 feet tall, that portion isn’t considered livable area and should not be counted toward the room's square footage.

4. Size: The room should be at least 70 square feet, (cannot be smaller than 7 feet in any horizontal direction.) Manufactured homes that are constructed according to the standards of HUD can have a minimum of 50 square feet of floor area (50 sq. ft. not fact checked).

5. Bedroom is to be located along and exterior wall.

6. Closet: Is a closet required to be considered a bedroom? As it turns out, it is not required in certain circumstances and locations. As an example, an old house may have been built without bedroom closets, as was common a long time ago. Depending on local rules, a closet may or may not be required in your area.

A room may not be considered a bedroom if it is used to access another room except a bathroom or closet. As an example, a room with a Study. You may choose to use the Study as a bedroom for your personal purposes, but it is not a bedroom if you have to go through one bedroom to get to it. 

Some old houses were built without closets in the bedroom. However, most people today would expect to have a closet in the bedroom. Stating a room is a bedroom when a closet doesn’t exist in the room, in a neighborhood where a closet is either required or generally accepted as a requirement, the room should not be presented as a bedroom.

Disclaimer:  This information is not guaranteed for your particular circumstance and nothing written here should be considered advise. If you want to obtain information on your own, research residential codes and other terms. You can also contact an appraiser, “local” real estate agent or broker, or other service providers.

Here are two county codes worded differently for the definition of a bedroom:
Hillsborough County Building code:
Bedroom means a private room with a closet and window, designed in a manner appropriate for sleeping, separated from other rooms by a door, and accessible to a bathroom without crossing another bedroom or living room.

Sarasota County:
Bedroom: Any residential room which has an area of 70 Sq. Ft. or more and a storage closet and is not part of the common living area.

Building codes will vary from state to state. In most cities, bedrooms must have an escape or rescue point (usually a window). Building codes will dictate the maximum and minimum height, minimum square footage and width of the window.

In some codes, a closet may not be required to classify a room as a bedroom.

I have marketing interests in Tampa and Sarasota Florida.

If you have any questions about this post or marketing strategies, send me an e-mail using my gmail account as follows: 813marketing@gmail.com 

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