WHAT MAKES A BEDROOM A BEDROOM?

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Q: What makes a room a bedroom?

A: Determining how many bedrooms a house has can be a tricky formula. Just because your 3-year-old sleeps in a walk-in closet and thinks he has a master suite does not make it a bedroom. Finding out what makes a bedroom can be interesting as well as frustrating. The definition of a bedroom can be different in other parts of the state or country.

The first requirement is simply a room for sleeping. The room must be a room with a doorway. No half-finished privacy walls or anything of that nature; the room must be fully enclosed. Also, having a closet or a window or both is not a simple rule to follow either.

The Chattanooga Multiple Listing Service has distinct requirements for Realtors to use to define if a room is a bedroom.

These requirements are defined by using the definition of both the Universal Residential Appraisal Report and the Southern Building Code.

If you see the number of bedrooms posted in a MLS listing, it should be according to both of these definitions. This can get tricky because both have different requirements for a room to be defined as a bedroom.

The Universal Residential Appraisal Report defines a bedroom as a room with a closet and should not serve as a corridor to any other room. So, by this definition, a room must have a rod to hang clothes in a defined location within the room. And the room must not have the access of any other room as the adjacent room’s only way to enter. In other words, it cannot be a hallway or room to enter by coming or going to that room.

The Southern Building Code requires that a bedroom must have a window or a door to the immediate outside for egress. These address different issues than the Universal Residential Appraisal Report. By this definition, it simply has to have a window or a door to the outside of the house.

So, if you see a Realtor’s posting of home listing in the greater Chattanooga area, a bedroom would be a room with a closet, no corridor to another room and have a window or a door to outside of the home. The greater Chattanooga area includes the Tennessee counties of Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie. And it includes the Georgia counties of Catoosa, Dade and Walker. Areas other than greater Chattanooga can follow different guidelines and other Multiple Listing Services may have different requirements.