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One thing that has been really keeping me up at night with this project, is the thought of egress from the loft.

For those of you who just said “eeg-what?”: Wikipedia defines an egress window as “A window big enough and low enough so that occupants can escape through the opening in an emergency, such as a fire.”

And in Vermont, the minimum area for an egress window is 820 square inches. Mind you, that's the area of the window OPENING, not the rough opening of the window itself. Needless to say, the window that the Fencl plans call for in the loft doesn't come close to egress requirements.

So, I've been wrestling with changing the roof line of my house so that I can install a low, long sliding window in the loft to provide egress. I was worried about making these changes because they add: uncertainty, cost, and weight.

Well, now I think I've found the solution. The egress roof window! I've been wanting to install a skylight in the loft but have been balking at the price. However, an egress roof window takes away my need to modify the housing plans (therefore keeping the price down), AND satisfies my desire for a skylight. It's a win win!