It’s easy to get caught up in all the amenities you can include in your finished basement.
Your primo home theater setup is the envy of your friends, the pool table gets a ton of use, the playroom gives you a break from the kids – you really added everything, including the kitchen sink (you know, for the bar area).
While shiny and new is always fun, don’t forget about the functionality of your basement space. Many homes in Toronto and the GTA aren’t being built with walkouts, which creates an overlooked safety issue for homeowners: What do you do if you need a quick way to enter or exit the basement?
Enter basement egress windows. These replacement windows for your home provide an easy way to enter and exit the basement in case of emergency, like a fire.
They’ve become so popular that in the U.S., you can’t have a legal bedroom in your basement without an egress window installed.
But for you homeowners in Toronto and the GTA…are basement egress windows worth the investment? Let’s explore.
Egress Windows for Safety
If your home is one of the many without a walkout basement, you have to ask yourself – how will you and your family get out of the basement safely if there’s a fire? Or if there’s a home invasion, and you and your family are trapped in the basement?
You’ll need an exit strategy that’s more secure than potentially squeezing through whatever small basement windows you have.
Basement egress windows are actually designed with fire safety and code in mind, giving you and your family a built-in exit strategy once your egress windows are installed.
If you’re worried about egress windows ruining the curated basement design you spent so much time on, don’t worry – egress windows can be customized to suit your home décor and space.
Egress Windows for Value
While basement egress windows aren’t cheap, they will still add value to your home. The investment in safety is worth it alone, in our opinion, but for those value hunters, rest assured you won’t lose anything on this investment.
Of course, how much value they provide is dependent on your home, but you’ll at least recoup your costs in resale value. For example, if you install basement egress windows in a downstairs bedroom, that space can now be legally rented out to tenants, allowing you to start getting some of your investment back.
For specific basement egress window prices in Toronto or the GTA, get in touch with the window installers at Thermo-Bilt Windows and Doors for a quote.
Egress Windows for…Reasons
Safety and value are probably top-of-mind for you, and rightfully so – they’re the biggest determining factors of whether egress windows are worth it for you.
There are a few other benefits to keep in mind when making your decision, which are pretty straightforward, but noteworthy nonetheless. We touched on the ability to make a bedroom into a legal one you can rent out for extra cash – you’ll be able to pay off your new basement egress windows in no time. As with all windows, you’ll also benefit from more lighting and better air flow/quality, which in turn translates to lower utility bills. Finally, they can be added virtually anywhere, meaning you won’t disrupt the beautiful feng shui you got going on.
So…Are Egress Windows Worth It?
They are. You can’t put a price on safety; having the peace of mind that your family is taken care of in case of emergency is worth the price of egress windows. But you’ll also benefit from better indoor comfort, and a better resale home value if that time ever comes.
To top it off, when you hire a professional Toronto window company to oversee the project, including design and installation, it’s a fairly fast home reno project – our window installers have completed jobs in just a few days!
If you’re interested in outfitting your basement with new egress windows, get in touch with the Thermo-Bilt team for a quote!
