Eric Parent
03-02-2011, 12:43 PM
Hi all,
I have a question for you, and regardless of where I look, I can't seem to find the answer. A former client called me with a question on behalf of his relative. Apparently, he (his relative) is selling his home, and he's questioning a finding by a buyer's inspector.
His bedrooms have double-hung windows. The rear bedroom has only the one window, and therefore it serves as the secondary egress for that bedroom. The problem is that, although the window opening is of sufficient size for egress, the window is disconnected from the counter-balance and therefore does not stay open. This causes the window to be relatively heavy, and therefore requires a bit of a heave to open it and the window needs to be propped up with something to stay open, or else it slams shut.
The buyer's inspector said that an egress window must stay open on its own and cannot require a "prop" or other device to hold it open. It does make sense if you think about it, since if a firefighter had to pull him out through the window, he wouldn't be able to since he'd have to use one hand to hold the window open. Also, if a firefighter had to climb in through the window, while wearing all his equipment and air tanks, he would get stuck since the window would come slamming down on him and get all caught up in his equipment.
Anyway the buyers are therefore requesting that the window gets replaced, based on the inspector's recommendations. And although it's just a window, so not a big deal, the seller is wondering if this is actually a true requirement, or if the inspector threw that in on behalf of the buyer as an excuse to replace the window at the seller's expense.
Funny enough, despite the 5000+ inspections I've done over the years, I've never come across this situation before (and I thought I'd seen it all by now!). Needless to say it's a pretty uncommon issue, which is probably why I can't find any information on that despite my best efforts.
Anyway, if anybody happens to know the answer to this, I would truly appreciate it, and would gladly buy you a coffee should you ever be in Ottawa.
Thanks in advance!
Eric
I have a question for you, and regardless of where I look, I can't seem to find the answer. A former client called me with a question on behalf of his relative. Apparently, he (his relative) is selling his home, and he's questioning a finding by a buyer's inspector.
His bedrooms have double-hung windows. The rear bedroom has only the one window, and therefore it serves as the secondary egress for that bedroom. The problem is that, although the window opening is of sufficient size for egress, the window is disconnected from the counter-balance and therefore does not stay open. This causes the window to be relatively heavy, and therefore requires a bit of a heave to open it and the window needs to be propped up with something to stay open, or else it slams shut.
The buyer's inspector said that an egress window must stay open on its own and cannot require a "prop" or other device to hold it open. It does make sense if you think about it, since if a firefighter had to pull him out through the window, he wouldn't be able to since he'd have to use one hand to hold the window open. Also, if a firefighter had to climb in through the window, while wearing all his equipment and air tanks, he would get stuck since the window would come slamming down on him and get all caught up in his equipment.
Anyway the buyers are therefore requesting that the window gets replaced, based on the inspector's recommendations. And although it's just a window, so not a big deal, the seller is wondering if this is actually a true requirement, or if the inspector threw that in on behalf of the buyer as an excuse to replace the window at the seller's expense.
Funny enough, despite the 5000+ inspections I've done over the years, I've never come across this situation before (and I thought I'd seen it all by now!). Needless to say it's a pretty uncommon issue, which is probably why I can't find any information on that despite my best efforts.
Anyway, if anybody happens to know the answer to this, I would truly appreciate it, and would gladly buy you a coffee should you ever be in Ottawa.
Thanks in advance!
Eric