What size does a bedroom egress window need to be in BC?

The article has five sentences, and a basement bedroom usually meets all of them at once.¹

1. Except where the suite is sprinklered, each bedroom or combination bedroom

needs at least one outside window or exterior door openable from the inside without keys, tools or special knowledge and without removing sashes or hardware.

1. The window must provide an unobstructed opening of not less than 0.35 m²

in area with no dimension less than 380 mm, and must hold that opening during an emergency without extra support.

1. Where the window opens into a window well, a clearance of not less than

760 mm is required in front of the window.

1. Where the sash swings toward the well, its operation must not reduce that

clearance in a way that restricts escape.

1. Any protective enclosure over the well must open from the inside without

keys, tools or special knowledge.

The trap in the numbers

Both limits apply together. A 380 mm by 380 mm opening is 0.144 m², well short of 0.35 m², so a window that meets the minimum dimension can still fail the area test. In practice a compliant opening is closer to 380 mm by 920 mm, or 600 mm by 600 mm, measured clear of the frame and any stop.

No restrictor on the egress window

The Code separately requires windows in residential buildings to be guarded or restricted to a 100 mm opening where a fall is possible. The BC Building Code Interpretation Committee ruled in October 2024 that the bedroom egress window cannot carry that restrictor, because the restricted opening is too small for escape; the openable part of the window has to sit at a height where no guard or restrictor is required, or the bedroom needs another compliant window or door.²

Which edition, and where

The wording above is the 2018 Code's; the Interpretation Committee's 2024 file confirms the same article and figures under the BC Building Code 2024, which is the edition in force.² The City of Vancouver regulates under its own Building By-law rather than the provincial Code, and its Section 9.9 is the one to check for a Vancouver property. The local building department, not this page, has the final word on any specific opening.²

What it means for a basement bedroom

If the room you want to call a bedroom has no window that opens to the size above, it is not a bedroom for permit purposes, whatever the listing says. The fix is usually a larger opening cut into the foundation with a window well that gives the 760 mm clearance, which is permit work in its own right.