Garages and barns need to have ventilation. Most homeowners put
windows in their garages to be able to see outside the building without
having to leave the building or open a doorway. Garages that have second
stories have permanent stairways that take up most of the wall they are
placed on. This presents a number of safety issues. Window placement in
relation to a stairway is one of those safety concerns. Window size is
important for safety reasons as well.
If you want a garage that has optimal wall space, you probably want
to limit your openings. You are going to have to have room for the
garage doors, which will leave you three walls to have workbenches,
shelves and work boards. If it was winter, you wouldn’t want to open
them. For safety reasons and convenience, most garages have garage door
openers installed. In the event of an emergency, you would have to lift
them manually. If you had no windows to escape through, how would you
quickly get out? What would you do if you were on the second story and
the only way down was a stairway to below where the fire would be
growing?
Both one-story and two-story garages, barns, additions and shell
homes have decorative windows in the gables of their buildings. Some are
for functional reasons, some are just decorative. The size of the
window, the type of glass and where it is located is important.
Direction of travel in any new construction building should always be a
concern that an experienced building contractor should plan with you,
both for ventilation and safety.
If you are walking up a stairway to a second floor, is there a
continuous route to the outside of the building from that floor? Every
time I meet with a consumer to plan a garage, barn, shell home or
accessory building, one of the first questions I ask is whether or not
the building has more than one floor and what will that second floor be
used for. The customers answer then dictates what size window will go
there, what type of glass should be in that window(s) and that will
allow access to the outside of the building in the event of emergency.
Windows placed within 36” or less of the bottom of the tread or landing, must have tempered glass.
Windows within 36” of a stairway in any direction must have safety
glass. Any window that is closer than 18” to the floor of a structure
must have tempered glass. Why? Anyone could trip and fall out of the
building. Ouch!
The size of the windows used in garages, additions, barns, shell
homes and accessory structures should be planned to make sure that a
grown fireman, with an oxygen tank on, can knock in the glass, come
through the window and take you to safety. CALL H.W. ENTERPRISES, INC. to plan your next garage, barn, addition or shell home at 757-595-4562/757-696-1927 or visit: www.hwenterprisesinc.com.
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