attic into living space?

[Pedro Bartolomei]

What makes an attic living space ? I renovated an attic to make it a third bedroom but want to make sure I can market it as such. it has a regular staircase for egress and now has closets and heat as well as window . Am I missing anything ?

[Joe Splitrock]

@Pedro Bartolomei what did the planning office say you needed to qualify as a bedroom when you pulled a permit?

Every city or county may have different requirements. You will need two forms of egress, so stairwell and fire escape window that is legal size for exit. Depending on attic height, there could be additional fire escape requirements. Newly finished space will likely need a hard wired smoke detector. Electrical code requires outlets at certain distances. Some areas require arc fault circuit breakers in newly finished space. Ceiling heights can affect marketable square feet, so you can't include space that is below a certain height because it isn't real square feet. Stair case will need proper railing around it it upstairs and going down the stairs.

Bottom line, if you have the work permitted as a bedroom and inspected, then you will be fine.