Little question, big answer...
The question often comes up in real estate as to what is considered a bedroom. In fact, sometimes the County records even have it wrong, and the answer lies in fact with local building codes, and health and safety requirements - which can usually be accessed at your City Hall's building department.
Without going into the details of exact dimensions, which of course make a big difference, we can say that the following characteristics have to be there, at the very least:
- there needs to be heat, and electricity
- natural light, and ventilation,
- a smoke (- and possibly a CO) detector,
- a sufficient way to exit directly to the outside of the house (door or window), also called ingress and egress --a little note here, think "firefighters".
- and a bedroom cannot have direct access to a garage (either a window or a door) because of possible toxic fumes.
There are a few more requirements, like the size of the windows, spacing of the electrical outlets, a minimum of heat, but among all these criteria, believe it or not, a closet is not a must, although it is often considered such by real estate agents ... A good source of info is always your local building department.
Have more input on the matter, or a story to share? Feel free to chime in, I love stories...
Francis
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PS: worthy cause: have you considered donating your
extra fruits this season (if you have fruit bearing trees)?
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FullCircleSunnyvale.org
