Walk-out basement

[Anonymous]

Some egress windows look great.
Check this out.

http://www.safedrybasement.com/egress-windows/

[Anonymous]

A walk-out is typically one where the property is graded so that the front of the house is ground level at the front of the property, the property slopes down on the sides and the basement is ground level on the back of the house so that you can walk out to the patio/yard. The one where the basement is partially underground and there are steps are called walk-ups as another PP pointed out. The security issues with a walk-out or walk-up are that you typically have a patio, atrium, or French doors on that entrance which may or may not be on any home alarm system. With the door on the back of the house, it is often less illuminated at night making it easier to break into the residence using that door. Many break-ins occur on doors and/or windows on the rear of the house, especially ones with glass as opposed to solid doors (and walk-outs and walk-ups usually have glass to maximize light coming into the basement level). As for living spaces, my understanding in Maryland is that for a room to be livable it must have two egresses, so one interior door and one exterior door works. If one of the egresses is a window, it must be a certain height and no more than a certain distance from the ground, e.g. easier to crawl out of. Most of the high windows for partial underground basements do not qualify. The actual measurements of window size and distance from the ground vary from county to county, so you need to check out your county requirements. Also, for a room to be considered a bedroom/living space, it must have a closet. When we built our home, we opted to leave our walk-up basement unfinished and these were the restrictions that our build foreman told us that we would need to have if we decided to finish the basement. So if we wanted a basement suite, we would have to put the bedroom in the area by the walk-up exterior door to be legal.

[Anonymous]

The only downside I've found to a walkout basement is that the rear of your first floor is generally way above ground level. My previous house did not have a walkout basement and I loved that I could just walk right out to the deck and backyard without going down any steps. We ate out there all the time and often worked out there on m telework days. My current house has a walkout basement and the deck is high above the yard and I just don't like that setup as well.