Egress from "wine cellar" (R310)

[peach]

head clearance.. minimum room size... just because there's a stairway going there doesn't mean it's a habitable space. If I drank wine, I could drink myself into a stupor, so a smoke detector and egress window could be required.. because now it's a sleeping room...

 

[Yankee]

I think Robert Ellenberg's post (as well as my previous post) was that a basement has no habitable requirement. I don't remember the details of the basement v. crawl space discussion. I think I came away thinking there were no substantive differences.

Oh yes, the difference is that a basement over 200sf has to have egress directly outside. So the difference is substantial.

 

[peach]

so, make an opening into the other below grade areas accessed only from the outside. I've seen several storm cellars with only the stairs to the main house (not a great design, but at the time.. nothing prohibiting them).

Dorothy's storm cellar in Kansas was only accessed from the outside.. also not a great idea.