Hicks: Is it a bedroom or not?

If youput a bedroom in your basement, city safety codesrequire youto havean easy way to escape in case of a fire.

That usually means putting in a bigger window at an additional cost.

Sometimes, homeowners who wanted to avoid the cost of cutting a bigger hole in the cement, buying a new window and a putting in a bigger window well, would fudge.

They would tell city building and safety staffthe basement room they were remodeling was to be a sewing room, a den, a study -- anything but a bedroom.

So citystaff came up with a definition. If the room has either a closet or a bathroom, then it is a sleeping room and it needs a safe exit.

The definition has worked well for city inspectors dealing with people trying to avoid the cost of putting inan egresswindow.

But it became a bureaucratic nightmare for Laura Pales.

Pales played by the rules. She went to the city with the plans for her basement remodeling project putting in two bedrooms and a TV/rec room.

The city building and safety staff approved the plans. She paid $182 for the permit.

Butseveral weekslater, bureaucracy intervened.

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Hicks: Is it a bedroom or not?