I am looking at finishing a basement room in my 120 year old house. There is a landing 64" up from the basement floor where it turns and there are an additional five steps up to the level of the main living area. At this landing there is a full door that exits directly outside. The room I want to finish is at the bottom of the stairs.
Is an egress window needed?
The small town I live in doesn't have a building inspector in the winter. City hall has been no help.
Under the International Residential Code there's egress and there's emergency escape. Your front door probably qualifies as the egress. An emergency escape in addition to an egress (or an additional egress) is required for any basement larger than 200 ft2. An emergency escape is also required for any sleeping room. See sections R310 and R311 from the code.
Your 18"x36" window is unfortunate, as it's deficient in square footage and height. See R310.2.1 and R310.2.2. Note that the bottom of the emergency escape must be within 44" of the floor, IRC R310.2.3. There are window well requirements too, assuming that conformance would require digging.
