Preferred sill height for bedrooms?
AdamPNW
| Posted in General Questions on
Hi all, I’m working on the framing plan and wanted to get some feedback on best practices for window sill height, particularly bedrooms.
For the living rooms, I’ve gone with 2’4” over finished floor, as recommended by Sarah Susanna (Not so Big House). So I just went with that for the bedrooms as well.
But the bedrooms windows are not as straightforward. All the bedrooms are on the 2nd floor, some will face south (climate 4c), some will face the street (although on the second floor) and some face the neighbors through some trees. Floor plan below of it helps
Thanks so much!
Adam
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Dunno what is common these days, but I live in a wildly overglazed house [~.26 win/fl area] and not one of my windows is under 3'2" from the floor.
Adam,
It's a bit of a dance. There are no hard and fast rules. When you design windows you are mainly trying to reconcile these three aims:
- Introducing light
- Framing the views
- Creating a harmonious exterior
When you have a lot of different sized windows with no obvious relationship between them (the way you do) which prioritize the first two aims, it's important to use the siding and trim to make the house look proportional and something people think of as beautiful. I hope you are planning to spend some time of the elevations to do that.
Thanks Malcolm. Those are good points. we actually have done some work on lining up the headers, attached are some current plans.
We also will be adding some awnings and siding material transitions to help with site lines.
You got several excellent suggestions from Malcolm. I would add the following.
Think about furniture placement in those rooms. Will you be wanting to put a dresser or desk at a window? That would warrant a higher sill. If not, a lower sill would work.
Interiors often feel more harmonious if door and window headers align. In Craftsman style homes and in many of Frank Lloyd Wright's homes you will see that the header trim is even a continuous band running around the whole room.
I concur with Malcolm that it would be worthwhile to give more thought to the exterior effect as well.
Yes good points. I agree the interior design is so important, and I wish I knew more about it. It’s been tough to come up with a cohesive design plan on our own. Know any good books for this sort of thing?
It might make sense to raise the sills to say 30”, this would at least allow for a desk underneath. This gives us more flexibility when it comes to bedroom furniture, which, with 3 boys, will vary.
Adam
Anything you can find by Sarah Susanka is worth reading. She's got books out. But she also publishes articles regularly in places like Fine Homebuilding.
Be sure the bedrooms, studio and craft room have a window that meets the egress requirements.
The window must be at least 5.7 square feet, 20 inches wide by 24 inches high. Its opening must be no higher than 44 inches from the floor.
Do you have a plan for supplying combustion air for the wood stove?
Are you sure that the chase for the flu pipe is large enough to meet the clearance requirements? Just looks optimistic small to my eye.
Is there a pocket door to the studio and how will it interact with the flu?
If the S is for smoke detector modern codes and best practices require an additional alarm just outside the bedroom doors. Consider adding the alarms so the studio and craft rooms meet the requirements as bedrooms as the next owner seems likely to use them that way.
Walta
Walta,
Why the studio and craft room?
Walta, thanks for the feedback. These are DIY plans, so sorry for the amateur details. I accidentally posted an early version of the plan- the yoga studio will actually be 2 bedrooms (it was an alternate version). Anyway, yes they will meet egress requirements. But the 1st floor craft room does not. Are you thinking I should plan ahead in case it becomes a bedroom someday?
The stove will be supplied with an outside air supply, and the flu is just a stock image from Sketchup. It will be 6” in reality.
No pocket door, just a passageway centered on the room. The alcove (tiny corner) where the stove sits is small, but it will be fireproof materials.
Smoke detectors will be added per code, just didn’t detail that in the plan.
I think you are going to see excessive sun loading in the summer downstairs from the south and west elevations
I also think the freezer doesn't need a window
I think you could drop the glazing area by at least 10 percent without visually noticing it.
Yes I wondered about overheating. I’ll be adding an awning that will extend 4’ or so over the 1st floor south windows. 2nd floor south side will have a 2’ overhang.
Triple glaze windows will help, as long as I don’t overdo it with SHGC.
But yes, the tall windows on the 2nd floor, as well as the patio door, will see some sun during the shoulder seasons. So we are considering exterior shades.
But- here is where raising the sill height might be an easy solution to this problem.
Freezer window has been eliminated! Thanks for the advice.
I would suggest the book "Get Your House Right" as a guide for window proportions among other design considerations. Your home is a simple shape but the window placement (not aligned horizontally) and proportions from first to second floor are irregular. This book is recommended by Brent Hull a lot, and even if you don't want a classical house I think the window placement would benefit from the guidelines in the book.
Perfect thanks. I just ordered a copy
Matthew,
+1
“But the 1st floor craft room does not. Are you thinking I should plan ahead in case it becomes a bedroom someday?”
I think one day every house goes up for sale and if a space meets the bedroom requirement it adds more value than if it does not. For the cost of 2 smoke detectors as the windows are likely big enough and maybe a closet.
“The stove will be supplied with an outside air supply, and the flu is just a stock image from Sketchup. It will be 6” in reality.”
My point is if you want the stove to not back draft in a tight home you will need a well thought out plan for the combustion air now not a to be decided later item. My guess is the double walled flu pipe is 6 inches plus a full inch of clearance to the 2x3 or 4 framing seems likely to be more like 12-16 inches than the what is shown unless you had some manufactured solution planed.
Walta
I generally go from zero to 60", depending on the situation.
Thanks Michael. So it sounds like you’ll generally have an interior design plan for the bedrooms (a furniture layout at a minimum) that directs the window placement.
Do you have any rules of thumb when this isn’t the case (to allow for some flexibility of furniture placement, but also is in keeping with your design principles)?
It's definitely not necessary to have a full interior design. But do make some basic furniture placement plans, just to make sure you can fit the necessary furniture without creating conflicts at doors, closet doors, or circulation.
Some rules of thumb:
Try for windows on 2 sides of a room whenever possible.
Taller windows help get natural light deeper into a space.
Windows fairly near corners will light the perpendicular wall surface and reflect light further into the room.
For bedrooms, if you want flexibility try to get 2 wall surfaces wide enough for a bed headboard. Have a space for a bedside table, which can be under a window.
I'm attaching a couple of images, a first and a second story plan for a Victorian inspired country house. You'll see how I used the furniture layout to make sure I didn't have conflicts.
It's a mix of interior layout, interior and exterior aesthetics, construction budgets and a few other things. For practicality only, 36" or higher is ideal if there might be a dresser or desk placed in front of it. For egress, you need no more than 44" to the clear opening. For windows over beds, I find that 54-60" is good. For windows over dressers, 42-48" is usually good but it depends on the lighting scheme. For views and aesthetics, I think around 24" is a good starting point, and for window openings more than 6' above grade, 24" or higher allows you to avoid the required device to limit opening to 4". Keeping the edge of the glass more than 18" above the finished floor means that tempering the glass may not be required, but in some cases it is required anyway, and in some cases glass closer than 18" to the floor is allowed without tempering. Keeping the sill at least 6-8" above the floor allows for electrical outlets. Glazing flush with the floor is the cleanest, most modern look, but also the most challenging (and expensive) to get right.
Here are a few I've designed in recent years.
Great info, Michael, it is much appreciated! Thanks,
Adam
Michael,
Would it be a bad idea (aesthetically speaking) to vary the window placement within the wall… so that some windows are middle of wall and some flush with ext insulation?
My issue is that we really like having an interior sill to place things on (an outie window)…in the other hand I’m worried the tilt/turn windows won’t be able to turn inward if they aren’t set in the middle of the wall. Have you had any issues operating tilt/turns when they are flush with ext insulation? Thanks,
Adam
What are you looking at?
If the view outside is a lake, you may want low sills
If it is mountains, maybe it doesn't matter
Is there a deck rail outside?
Is there a point of having the window sill lower than the deck rail?
What will you see out a low sill window facing the street?
Nothing because you will always have the shade drawn
Thanks. It’s mostly trees to the south, over a garden.
But other directions have either houses or street through a few trees.