How to Speak "Doors and Windows" Like a Pro.
Now you too can speak with authority with your Builder or Window and Door Sales Guy and not look silly.
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Windows - Often I will be discussing details with a new client and it becomes obvious that he or she might not really understand those numbers we place on the sheets that refer to the doors and windows. The first clue I get is I hear the referral to one of those "thirty-sixty" windows. Then I'll spend the next few minutes teaching the nomenclature of doors and windows in the building industry.

I'll start this discussion with the most popular vinyl window size, the 3050. It's pronounced as "three-oh-five-oh" and not "thirty-fifty". The nominal measurement is three feet - zero inches wide by five feet - zero inches tall. The rough opening is often 36"x60" but can vary with the window manufacturer. So when you see on the sheets a window with a number such as 3470, you will know it is not a "thirty-four by seventy" but a "three-four-seven-oh" and the size is three feet four inches wide by seven feet zero inches tall. Go ahead and say it out loud, Three Four Seven Oh. Great! You're sounding like a seasoned pro already!

Now this information is for the vinyl and aluminum windows that are so popular here in the southern United States. In the northern United States, wood and wood with clad are more popular because their winters are colder. Many of the wood window manufactures have their own way of calling out windows. Usually, it's by the lower sash in inches. So it would be best to refer to your selected window company for how they might call out windows.

Code requires that all habitable rooms have two means of egress. Egress is just a fancy word for "getting out". The International Residential Code (IRC) Section R310 defines an emergency egress as an opening that's minimum 5.7 square feet*, minimum 24 inches vertical clearance, minimum 20" horizontal clearance, and a sill height no greater than 44" above the floor. *Ground floor windows can be 5.0 square feet. A habitable room, such as a bedroom, is any room that has a door and maybe also a closet. Regardless what you might call it on the plans, if the city plans examiner feels the space could be used as a bedroom, then it's a habitable space.  So don't think if you call it a Study or something else, you can get by with not having the required egress window. The second means of egress is simply the door to the hallway. If your Master Bedroom has a door directly to the outside, then that door can count as your emergency egress opening.

Shop for the International Residential Code Book - Softcover Version

Doors - Doors are called out much the same way windows are. For example a 2868 door is two feet eight inches wide by six feet eight inches tall. Like windows, we say it this way, "two-eight-six-eight". Bath Room doors are often 2'-0" to 2'-4" wide. For a wheelchair, we'll spec a 3'-0" wide door. Bedrooms are 2'-6" to 2'-8" wide and I like to spec a 3'-0" wide door on our upper scale home designs. The IRC section R311 also requires at least one 3'-0" wide exit door and that door is the main entrance or front door to the home. In larger homes, I like to spec two 3'-0" exit doors. This exit door needs to lead right outside and not through a Garage. Door heights in homes were always 6'-8" (six-eight) but in recent years, with many homes now with ceilings as high as 10', we're seeing more and more 8'-0" tall (or eight-oh) doors.  It's also important to understand the difference between "Left Hand" and "Right Hand" doors. Below is an illustration of the Left and Right Handed Doors.

Left Handed Door         Right Handed Door

You can refer to cabinet doors as being left or right handed also.

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