So you're considering a daylight basement with full windows but no door? Doesn't make sense to me and wonder if code in your area would allow.

By code (and common sense) bedrooms must have a source of egress. Of course, this can be an operable window that opens wide enough to leave in case of an emergency.

code isnt an issue. I deal with code every day. A door is certainly not required. Bedrooms would still have the required egress 3' from the floor, and 5 sqft min opening clear (5.7 sqft is for non ground floors). The windows we are putting in are more like 6.2 sqft anyway.

The door is the security thing more than anything.
Plus by daylighting, we could run our footings up to the bottom of the window, thus requiring our step down detail to be easier, and still maintain a 3'-6" ground coverage.

If kids are going to sneak out, they can just as easily crawl out a window, as go out a door :)

I think the daylight basement makes a lot of sense. A lot of people in our area use them...and one thing to think about...do you want the standard patio with deck above? Depending on your view, some people have begun screening (at least part) of the upper or lower areas. Maybe a screened porch off the dining room, but deck off the living room. This gives you room for a patio downstairs, but you could screen part of this, as well.

Another consideration, make sure your access from the deck/upstairs outdoor living area is easy to get to the downstairs/patio area. This is true, especially if you're going to have a pool or other feature. The BBQ can go up or down, depending on how much or a 'downstairs kitchen' you have in the basement.

One other thing, if you are planning to have children, you may want to have a guest room or office (or both) upstairs, so the kids can be up with you, while they're young. When they get older, they can move downstairs and your office and guest room, can move back upstairs. The downstairs family room will make an excellent playroom, when they're little, too :)

good points, thanks lavender. my design features our bedroom and bedroom 1 on the first floor. 2 more bedrooms in the basement, and then a non code compliant office room. there is also a bonus room over the garage.

we did talk about sneaking out windows vs doors. while a teen, the window would be easy, but with smaller kids, whom are the biggest concern, a door is much easier then a window. Our windows will be casement, so removing the screens would most likely prevent any younger kid from exiting.

we plan on having a "grilling deck" only (roughly a 12x12) off the kitchen/family room via sliding doors. this will walk down to the patio below. I am positioning the deck to not be over any of the lower windows. (either bedroom or ones out of the lower family room).

In my climate, basements are the norm, and daylight walk-out basements are done in the majority of cases. I think this is for a number of reasons: people (in my area) are building fewer 2 story homes and with the higher ceilings now being the norm, basements are no longer seen as 2nd rate space. People are finishing these out and utilizing the space as the 2nd floor. In addition, in rural areas the lots are larger, often acreages, where slope exists naturally or can be excavated accordingly. It makes sense to do the walk-out, and houses w/out them generally sit on the market longer . We're building a 2-story with a walk-out, mostly because I wanted a nice flagstone patio area and our lot was naturally sloping allowing for a perfect daylight w/walkout. From a security standpoint, burglars are just as likely to break a basement window if they REALLY want to break in. Teens will sneak out no matter what. And for the toddler/child door issue, I would make sure your doors are wired with your alarm system. If it is open at night after the alarm is set, you will know immediately. My toddler loves to open doors, so I definitely understand your wife's concern.

Good luck! Hope that helps!!!

I'd love to have a walk out basement. The house I grew up in had a walk out, and some of our friends have walk outs, too. They all love them.

If/when your future kids play in the backyard, it would be nice to have a mudroom area and powder room in the basement, easily accessible from the yard. The same is true for when you work in the yard (or relax out there!) so no one is tromping in dirty shoes through your upper level.

When my kids were young, one of the best houses for hosting our playgroup (which was fairly large) was the house with a walkout basement. Everyone could park bikes, strollers, etc. behind the house and walk down to the finished basement. The host didn't have to worry about sheparding all the kids through the house to the playroom, or listening for the upstairs doorbell.

re: security, as mentioned above people can sneak out of or break into windows, too. I can understand the concern, but I'd be sure to have an alarm system (it could make your homeowners insurance costs go down) and other precautions like a latch or deadbolt. Or maybe a big dog. :)

I think the door gives you lots of flexibility as well. I understand the security issue and would recommend the "beeping" type of alarm. We have it on every door and window and if I am sitting in my kitchen or bedroom and any door or window opens, we hear a "beep beep." This would be great to know if a kid opened a door when they are little and when they are big and the teens are hanging out in the basement, you'll know if they go out. I do have a friend that had this set up and she was feeling confident that she'd know the teens were in the house. They outsmarted her and when somebody came to the front door and their mom was expecting the "beep" they propped open the basement door then so they could use it all night without getting caught! I think teens will find a way no matter what and it is true, window or door, they can escape either!

But, even knowing the "security" risks, I think I'd still put in the door. It is just very convenient for SO many reasons.

Best of luck in your decision!

I am of the agreement with most on here, and thanks for the input. I think the conveniences far outweighs the conerns. Breakins and sneaking teens are the least of the concern. Robbers will get in no matter what, teens, with right parents, wont be sneaking!
Toddlers are the biggest thing, but my arguement to her was...why would you be letting him/her play unattended in the basement anyway?...
I think we will put a door in. Now the next question is what type? We will have a sliding one upstairs, but probably not one downstairs. I am thinking a simple full glass swinging door would work just fine.

We opted not to put doors in the basement, mainly b/c we preferred the first floor to be ground level. I prefer patios to decks. If my son was playing in the yard and we needed something from the kitchen then I wouldn't want to go up a flight of stairs. Also, we have 4 bedrooms on the 1st and second floor so the basement is essentially extra space. There are very large windows and it is bright down there.

If you are going to have an elevated deck either way then I would put the doors in.

"I am positioning the deck to not be over any of the lower windows. (either bedroom or ones out of the lower family room)."

Our house is five yrs old. Our walk out basement is really lovely I have to say, and opens out to a pool and nice yard. We put in a concrete deck rather than the wooden deck, that we had originally planned. We finished the upper surface (which is accessed from upper level rooms by four french doors) with a nice surface and finished the underneath of the deck in a nice finish. None of the supports block the view from the lower level. The deck is directly outside of our basement family room and we have patio furniture there. We also installed a large ceiling fan. The ceiling is quite tall. On that patio it is about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the yard in the summer and was one of the smartest moves we made. I think the concrete deck may have cost us 8-10K--but was a good investment. Wooden decks are not cheap and only last so long.

Just another thought I might throw out.

We did a walkout basement and we love it. So much great light and patio door leads out on the lower patio. We did a main level deck, but opted to put in the "corner" of the house so that it doesn't cover the daylight of the lower level family room. We have 2 bedrooms and a family room and kitchenette down there. Our kids are 5 and 4. We plan to have them use the lower level bedrooms when they are teenagers. The lower level rooms are much more spacious than their bedrooms upstairs. We have a security system so we can hear anyone coming and going out the doors in the evenings or during the day. But hope the kids wouldn't try to sneak out anyway! :)

I wouldn't buy a house without a walkout basememnt, I'd feel trapped. I don't understand houses that don't have them. Even more so for the deep basements that don't have big above grade windows- they'd be a fire hazard without an outside exit.

We decided not to do a walkout on our new house for the reasons pps7 posted. We had one on our last build and while we enjoyed the large windows and the door access (not used often) it was such a pain not to have our main deck at ground level.

We have a walk out basement with a bunch of windows and two doors - one to the finished area and a double door to my workshop in an unfinished area. You might want to consider that second door if you are going to be storing stuff down there in the winter. I have security concerns about all teh doors and windoes down there too, but I feel like if someone really wants to get in - they'll get in regardless.

The two issues I have are - what the finished basement means to the design of the deck and patio outside. In our case we need both and they need to work together. Second issue, and this might be specific to my build, is how the concrete footers are insulated where they are above grade. In our home the footers under the back wall continue above grade by about one course of block - maybe 6 inches. That block is 5.5" thick. On top of the block sits the 2x6 stud wall. So, with the wall and the block being the same thickness, the exterior siding (hardy) and the interior finish (drywall) can run right down the stud wall and perfectly cover the block. Here's the problem - The 2x6 wall is insulated, but there was no interior space to insulate that concrete block. We have radiant heat in the basement floor and we lose a lot of heat through that 6" by 50ft length of wall that is uninsulated. I can tell because the snow melts in that area of the yard before it melts anywhere else. On the interior, all it has is sheet rock and mdf base molding covering the block. The solution (I think) would have been for the wall to have been thicker than the block so that there would have been interior space to put rigid insulation against the block before the sheetrock and moldings were put on. Good luck

I have the same situation regarding insulation. We framed a 2x4 wall in front of the concrete and did rigid foam insulation to r-8 (which is fine in my climate).

Schried - Can you remove the siding, throw some foam on the outside of the wall and then cover with dirt. 6 inches isn't much and a little dirt on foam would be all you need. My wall is brick and in that case you could just dig a little, insert foam, cover with dirt.

On the other hand 25 sq ft of 6 inch concrete would probably equal the heat loss of a door. In my climate, that would be about $3 a year. I don't know where you live but anything over $15 would be really surprising.