IRC R308.4.1
Glazing in doors
Any glass in a swinging, sliding, or bi-fold door — and the fixed panel beside it — is a hazardous location. Always tempered.
Two code requirements come up often: where safety glazing is required and when a window qualifies as emergency egress. These visual guides make it easier to identify both early, helping prevent order delays, inspection issues, and costly rework.
Building code identifies specific “hazardous locations” where glass must be safety (tempered) glazing. These are areas where someone is more likely to walk into the glass, fall into it, or be injured if the glass breaks. Below are the window and door conditions that come up most often.
Any glass in a swinging, sliding, or bi-fold door — and the fixed panel beside it — is a hazardous location. Always tempered.
Glazing within a 24″ arc of the door edge, with its bottom edge under 60″ from the floor. Think sidelites and adjacent windows.
A pane bigger than 9 sq ft with its bottom edge below 18″ and top above 36″ — picture windows and big fixed lites qualify.
Glazing within 36″ of a stairway, ramp, or landing walking surface, with the bottom edge under 60″, must be tempered.
Glazing in walls and enclosures around tubs, showers, saunas, and pools where the bottom edge sits under 60″ above the drain.
Tempered glass is the safe default in any spot people pass close to. Specifying it costs little next to a failed inspection.
Every sleeping room and most basements need an emergency escape and rescue opening (EERO). A window only qualifies if it clears all four minimums at once — measured at the actual open position, not the rough opening.
What is a sleeping room? Generally considered a room with a closet that isn’t used as a bathroom or for cooking. But really any room with a width and length that exceeds 7′-0″ even with no closet, on the theory you could fit a bed in that room. If the room has a door to the outside, then the windows in that room do not have to meet egress.
A general reference based on the International Residential Code (IRC). Local amendments vary — always confirm the adopted code and requirements with your local building department. Need help sizing a unit for egress? Talk to our team.