ᐅ Is it advisable to omit basement windows in a ventilated cellar?
Created on: 12 Feb 2016 11:26
A
andimann
Hello everyone,
The idea actually came to me through Cumpa’s thread about light wells:
If I connect the basement to the mechanical ventilation system, could I then also do without basement windows?
Background: initially, we did not plan for a mechanical ventilation system, so we naturally included windows in the basement rooms. Now, however, we are including mechanical ventilation, and the basement will be ventilated as well.
So the question is whether we could simply omit the windows in basement rooms 3 (storage room) and the utility room. The light wells there are somewhat inconvenient anyway...
Basement room 2 will be an office with a light well, so these windows are fixed. Due to our design flood level, these will also be flood-resistant windows along with drainage for the light well.
For basement room 1, I am uncertain; it will be my workshop, so I will probably keep the window there.
Whether this really makes sense, I don’t know yet. For the light well in basement 2, I will need drainage anyway and have to run it to the inspection chamber. So the potential savings may be limited to the flood-resistant windows in basement 3 and the utility room, plus the light wells. Together, that will already be around 3,000 to 4,000 euros.
So my question to the group:
Have you installed windows in a basement with mechanical ventilation, or could you actually do without them?
Best regards,
Andreas
The idea actually came to me through Cumpa’s thread about light wells:
If I connect the basement to the mechanical ventilation system, could I then also do without basement windows?
Background: initially, we did not plan for a mechanical ventilation system, so we naturally included windows in the basement rooms. Now, however, we are including mechanical ventilation, and the basement will be ventilated as well.
So the question is whether we could simply omit the windows in basement rooms 3 (storage room) and the utility room. The light wells there are somewhat inconvenient anyway...
Basement room 2 will be an office with a light well, so these windows are fixed. Due to our design flood level, these will also be flood-resistant windows along with drainage for the light well.
For basement room 1, I am uncertain; it will be my workshop, so I will probably keep the window there.
Whether this really makes sense, I don’t know yet. For the light well in basement 2, I will need drainage anyway and have to run it to the inspection chamber. So the potential savings may be limited to the flood-resistant windows in basement 3 and the utility room, plus the light wells. Together, that will already be around 3,000 to 4,000 euros.
So my question to the group:
Have you installed windows in a basement with mechanical ventilation, or could you actually do without them?
Best regards,
Andreas
aero2016 schrieb:
This is even gross negligence. I can imagine having to justify this in court if things get serious. However, the original poster is not referring to living spaces ...
So, we have now planned the hobby room to have a narrow window, but only for emergency ventilation. Because the window is too small, we are no longer allowed to call this room a hobby room. It is now considered Basement 1.
None of the other rooms will have windows. Controlled residential ventilation is planned for all rooms. We were told that all rooms classified as living spaces must have at least 10% window area. For example, a 10m² (108 sq ft) room requires 1m² (11 sq ft) of window area. We didn’t discuss escape routes, but I believe regulations are less strict for private homes. For instance, a fire escape or similar is not mandatory for the upper floor.
I would be interested to know how others handle this. Windows with light wells seem very unappealing to me, and there isn’t always enough space for a light well.
Regards,
Red-Ed
None of the other rooms will have windows. Controlled residential ventilation is planned for all rooms. We were told that all rooms classified as living spaces must have at least 10% window area. For example, a 10m² (108 sq ft) room requires 1m² (11 sq ft) of window area. We didn’t discuss escape routes, but I believe regulations are less strict for private homes. For instance, a fire escape or similar is not mandatory for the upper floor.
I would be interested to know how others handle this. Windows with light wells seem very unappealing to me, and there isn’t always enough space for a light well.
Regards,
Red-Ed
red-ed schrieb:
Although we didn’t talk about escape routes, I believe that regulations are less strict in private buildings. For example, a fire escape or similar is not mandatory on the upper floor....because you can jump out of the window there.
I have visited several fire scenes for work where something was smoldering or burning on the ground floor, and people in the basement (often sleeping more soundly down there) couldn’t get out because the hallway or stairs were filled with smoke and flames.
To me, a second means of escape in the basement and people’s common sense are seriously underestimated when it comes to personal safety.
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