Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
The basement is framed, the drywall is on order, and now someone wants the back room to be a bedroom. That little hopper window up by the joists will not count. A bedroom below grade needs a way out that a person can climb through and a way in for a firefighter, and the state code spells out exactly how big that opening has to be.
The escape opening the 2025 state code asks for
The 2025 Uniform Code took effect on December 31, 2025, the Department of State says, and the 2025 Residential Code of New York State is part of it. The escape window rules also moved. They sat in Section R310 of the 2020 code, and the department’s July 2024 draft of the new code shifts them to Section R319.
That is the section the Town of Kent building department quotes in its May 2026 handout on finished basements, and the figures below come straight from that handout.
| Rule in Section R319 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Net clear opening | at least 5.7 sq ft |
| Grade floor or below-grade opening | at least 5 sq ft |
| Clear opening height | at least 24 inches |
| Clear opening width | at least 20 inches |
| Sill height | no more than 44 inches above the floor |
| Window well area | at least 9 sq ft, with 36 inches of projection and width |
| Ladder or steps in the well | required once the well is deeper than 44 inches |
The clear opening is the gap you get when you open the window normally from inside. It is not the frame size, and it has to work without keys, tools or special knowledge. The minimums also stack. A window that just squeaks past 24 by 20 inches opens to about 3.3 square feet, so one side has to grow to reach 5.7.
Basement bedrooms and finished basements
Section R319 starts with where an opening is needed: basements, habitable attics and every sleeping room get at least one. Put bedrooms in the basement and each one needs its own. The opening has to lead to a public way, or to a yard or court that opens onto one.
A storm shelter is exempt, and so is a basement used only for mechanical equipment with no more than 200 square feet of floor. In a house with an automatic sprinkler system, basement bedrooms can skip their own openings if the basement has two code-compliant means of egress, or one plus an escape opening. An opening tucked under a deck or porch must open fully and leave a path at least 36 inches high out to the yard.
Towns layer on their own limits. The Town of Babylon allows a basement bedroom without a kitchen as long as the ceiling is at least 7 feet 6 inches and the room has an egress window. Add a kitchen, though, and the town says the basement becomes an illegal apartment. Basement apartments are not allowed under town code.
Window wells, ladders and drainage
Once the sill drops below the ground outside, the well has to cover at least 9 square feet, reach at least 36 inches out from the wall, run 36 inches wide and leave room for the window to swing all the way open. A required ladder may eat up to 6 inches of that space. The rungs need an inside width of at least 12 inches, must stand at least 3 inches off the wall and can sit no more than 18 inches apart on center.
The well has to drain into the foundation drainage system or an approved alternative, unless the house sits on well-drained soil or a sand and gravel mix. A grate or cover is allowed only if it releases from inside without a key, a tool or more force than opening the window takes.
When a replacement window gets a pass
Swapping an old window gets its own carve-out in Section R319. The replacement is exempt from the opening size and sill height rules when three things line up: it is the manufacturer’s largest standard size that fits the existing frame or rough opening, it is the same operating style or one that opens wider, and the job is not part of a change of occupancy.
A brand new opening cut into a foundation is not a replacement. Ask your building department how the full section applies before anyone picks up a saw.
Egress permits in Long Island towns
The Town of Babylon’s permit list includes finished basements, which it defines as sheetrock on the walls and flooring other than concrete. It also lists replacement windows and doors, but only if the size or location changes. An egress job usually does both. Our Babylon permit guide covers that department, and the Long Island permits hub links every town and village we have checked. The Islip rule for windows is on the window cost page.
Who handles the paperwork depends on the installer. LI Basement Pro says a permit is required in Nassau and Suffolk and puts the filing and the building department inspection inside its price. Egress of Long Island says permits and any engineered drawings are the homeowner’s job and sit outside its package.
Picking the window and what installers charge
Andersen says its casement and gliding windows can both be sized large enough to meet egress rules, and notes that codes also set the size of the well outside a below-grade window. Egress of Long Island puts a European tilt-and-turn window, 32 by 42 inches, in every package and says most of its installs take one day.
On price, Egress of Long Island starts at about $5,500 with its masonry well package and says deeper masonry wells cost more. LI Basement Pro gives $3,500 to $8,000 depending on the foundation. The window replacement cost guide sets out what each company includes and leaves out.
