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Window opening limiter required over a roof?

J

jpowell

Bronze Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2012
Messages
41
Location
McCall, ID
Hi guys,

My first post here, but I've been browsing the forums for a long time. Thanks for the good info!

I have an egress window with a sill 12" above the floor. It is about 14' above exterior grade. But, there is a roof about 2' below the window sill outside. I am requiring an opening limiting device on the window. But I wonder about that roof out there and whether it should be considered in this code interpretation.

R612.2 To paraphrase: Requires windows whose sill is >72" above the finished grade or surface below to have a sill >24" above finished floor or the opening shall be limited to <4".

This is an important child fall protection measure. My question is about how you interpret the letter of the code. The commentary ignores the "or surface below" part and only talks about the grade or ground below. I think this is the right way to view it. If the kid falls out the window, are they safe? The way I view it is if they fall out the window, land on a roof 2' below, then roll down the roof to fall 10' to the ground - that is not safe.

On the other hand, what if it is a flat roof? Similar to a deck. At what point does a roof become low enough slope to be safe?...
 
First, welcome to the posting side of the forum!

I think the surface below would include the roof within 72". You can't play the "what if" game. It's called out in the code as a surface below, no other expectations.

"What if" the natural grade below a window happens to be a mountainside, that drops into a canyon 30' away........

You work with what you have........

Again, welcome.
 
Welcom to the board.

Technically grade is defined in the IRC as the finished ground level adjoining the building at all exterior walls. In the commentary the language "or surface below" does not appear. I would suspect that if there was a flat roof or deck surface outside the window they might consider that adequate, however, in that scenario the lat surface would need to be treared as a walking surface and would need to have a guard placed at the edge to prevent a fall.
 
"R612.2Window sills. In dwelling units, where the opening of

an operable window is located more than 72 inches (1829 mm)

above the finished grade or surface below,"
 
Agree with fatboy too and welcome.

The code is minimum. For example a deck 12 ft. in height above a steep embankment will have guards around the floor edges and down the stairway but does not require a door or guard at the top of the stairs for child fall protection. What if the window was 6 ft. above a concrete surface, a cactus garden, fish pond or retaining wall 3 ft. from the building; we can go the what if list and never reach the end of possibilities.

Francis
 
fatboy said:
"R612.2Window sills. In dwelling units, where the opening ofan operable window is located more than 72 inches (1829 mm)

above the finished grade or surface below,"
Click to expand...
I know that; I was refering to Daddy-O's comment
 
Yes. The roof or deck or whatever needs to be within 6' below. BTW. Virginia amended the sill height from 24" down to 18". The nice thing is that a lot of the window manufacturers are putting the 4" limiter device on New windows now. I am seeing them more and more.
 
Thanks for the replies. Like a lot of things in the code, I think these situations come down to judgement calls. At some point one has to make the call on when the roof below counts as a "surface below". How wide is the roof? How steep is it? If the roof is only 6" wide, you aren't going to count it as a surface because the person falling out the window isn't going to land on it...
 
I think it's a judgement call as to the surface below. If it is less than a 4/12 and is wider than 6' I'd call it a surface below. If it was less than a 4/12 and only 3' wide, I'd have to think about it (although 3' would put it similar to the guard rail/above grade issue)
 
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