27 May 2025
What Qualifies as a Bedroom in Harford County, MD?
Ever wonder what legally counts as a bedroom in a home? In Harford County, Maryland (and generally across the state), not just any bonus room can be called a bedroom. There are specific building code requirements to ensure safety and habitability. Here’s a breakdown of the key criteria, from windows and closets to size and exits, that determine if a room is a true bedroom.
Harford County follows the International Residential Code (IRC) for building standards, which lays out clear rules for bedrooms. According to code, a legal bedroom must meet several conditions.
First, it must have a minimum size of at least 70 square feet of floor area, with no dimension shorter than 7 feet. In practical terms, a room roughly 7 feet by 10 feet or 8 feet by 9 feet is the smallest you’d want to call a bedroom. If more than one person will occupy the room, you need an extra 50 square feet per additional occupant to ensure the space isn’t too cramped.
Ceilings should be at least 7 feet high over most of the room, and at least half of the ceiling area must meet that height. It is acceptable if parts are lower, such as under a sloped roof, as long as no portion is under 5 feet and the main area is 7 feet or more. This prevents rooms you cannot fully stand up in from being labeled bedrooms.
Access and privacy matter too. The bedroom must have its own door, and you should not have to walk through another bedroom to get to it. Each bedroom needs a private entrance from a hallway or common area, with no “railroad” bedrooms where one leads to another.
Every bedroom must also have an emergency escape route, typically a window that meets specific size requirements. By code, a bedroom’s egress window must be at least 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with a minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet (5.0 square feet for ground-floor windows), and the windowsill should be no more than 44 inches above the floor. Simply put, the window must be big enough for an adult to climb out or for a firefighter to climb in during an emergency. Alternatively, a door that leads directly outside, such as in some first-floor or basement bedrooms, counts as an emergency exit as well. This egress requirement is a safety must; a room cannot be considered a bedroom without a proper window or exterior door for escape.
Bedrooms also need a source of natural light and ventilation, usually satisfied by the window. If the room does not have enough window area, the code allows artificial light and mechanical ventilation, like a ceiling light and an HVAC vent, to help. However, that does not waive the need for an egress window. The goal is to ensure the occupant has some daylight and fresh airflow, which is important for health and comfort.
Additionally, every habitable room, including bedrooms, must have a heat source to keep it warm in winter. There should be a functioning furnace vent, baseboard heater, radiator, or similar system capable of heating the room to at least about 68°F. Space heaters do not count as permanent heat sources.
Modern codes also require a smoke alarm inside each bedroom, as well as one immediately outside each sleeping area, such as in the hallway. If you are updating a home or building a new one, hard-wired smoke detectors with battery backup are typically required. For older homes, you are not forced to tear open walls to hard-wire them, but you should at least have battery-operated detectors. While a smoke alarm does not define a bedroom, any legal bedroom today should have one for safety.
Now, what about closets?
Many people assume a real bedroom needs a closet. In fact, you might have heard that in Maryland you must have a closet for a room to count as a bedroom. This is a bit of a myth or at least an oversimplification. Strictly speaking, the building code does not require a closet in a bedroom in most jurisdictions.
Older homes often have bedrooms without built-in closets, like in a 19th-century house where people used armoires or dressers. Those rooms are still considered bedrooms if they meet the other requirements for size, egress, and so on. Most states do not mandate closets by law.
For older properties in Harford County and elsewhere in Maryland, bedrooms without closets are generally grandfathered. If you have a historic home where none of the bedrooms originally had closets, you can still call those rooms bedrooms today. Buyers recognize they were built before modern storage expectations, and you will not be forced to add closets. It is similar to how an old house with small windows might not technically meet today’s egress window size code, but we do not redefine it out of having bedrooms; it is just understood that upgrading those windows would be smart for safety.
Bottom Line
So what truly makes a bedroom a bedroom? It comes down to safety, privacy, and functionality. A true bedroom is a private space where someone can sleep safely. That means it is big enough to live in, has a door for privacy, and has a proper window or door to the outside for emergency escape. You do not need a fancy walk-in closet, especially in older homes, but these days we usually expect at least some storage area.
For buyers, do not be afraid to ask, “Does this bedroom meet code?” especially for basement rooms or older properties. For sellers and homeowners, if you are calling a room a bedroom, make sure it meets the legal requirements. If not, consider making improvements like adding an egress window or clarifying it as a bonus room instead. It is all about truth in advertising and, most importantly, keeping future occupants safe.
For more helpful tips and local real estate insights, follow Leigh Kaminsky at https://www.facebook.com/LeighKaminskyBelairMDRealtor/