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Bars on windows a fire hazard? — Brooklynian

Bars on windows a fire hazard?

redeft
redeft
edited November -1 in Park Slope
I just moved into a garden level apartment. It's a great old building and has the typical bars on the front room window facing the street. It concerns me because the front room is also used as a bedroom and I can't seem to figure out how to get out if there is a fire that is blocking the door.

Had anyone had a similar problem??
Any advice would be appreciated.

Comments

  • sewster
    sewster
    I believe that the law is that only one room in the apartment has to have a window without bars.
  • lmboogie
    lmboogie
    you must have access to the back yard, right? does the entrance/exit to the backyard also have bars? i also live in a garden apt and have bars in all of my windows except there is a door leading to the backyard that doesn't have bars.
  • nubnu
    nubnu
    I live in a garden apt.......we have those iron bars on the outside (bedroom) windows as well. But, we have access to our garden.
    Isnt that safe enough?
    My biggest problem is that you cant buy a normal air conditioner for those windows with the bars. We have had the most awful time finding one that can fit our TINY kitchen windows.
  • faycat
    faycat
    nubnu, I'm apt searching right now and would love a garden apt, but I must admit that I check the windows when I go see apts to determine whether it will be a pain to fit an A/C in. I can't live without an A/C. I always wonder what people who have those bars that don't have that built-in A/C space do. But maybe I'm just obsessed because I'm apt hunting in 95 degree weather.
  • bklyngirl
    bklyngirl

    Subject: Re: Bars on windows a fire hazard?

    redeft wrote: I just moved into a garden level apartment. It's a great old building and has the typical bars on the front room window facing the street. It concerns me because the front room is also used as a bedroom and I can't seem to figure out how to get out if there is a fire that is blocking the door.

    Had anyone had a similar problem??
    Any advice would be appreciated.
    There are bars that can be opened in the event of a fire - without having to deal with a lock. I don't remember exactly what the name of the mechanism is called, but i had these on a fire escape window. It is against the law to have a padlock on there, IIRC.

    Talk to a good hardware store or locksmith - the old hardware store on Court and Joralemon is great with gates - and then talk to your landlord about replacing them.
  • lmboogie
    lmboogie
    I always wonder what people who have those bars that don't have that built-in A/C space do.
    it is a bloody nightmare. a/c didn't occur to me when i rented this apt. i've spent a huge amount of time trying to figure what i can do. in the end i have about 4 fans going and i'm still miserable. i'm actually going to leave a note for my next door neighbor to ask where they got their a/c from.
  • nubnu
    nubnu
    I just bought a tiny one to fit in my kitchen window (5200 btu's) and surprisingly it has cooled off the entire apartment (1 bedroom). I must add that as I write this from my kitchen, im actually very cold.
    I bought it at Target for $99!
  • afro76
    afro76
    nubnu wrote: I just bought a tiny one to fit in my kitchen window (5200 btu's) and surprisingly it has cooled off the entire apartment (1 bedroom). I must add that as I write this from my kitchen, im actually very cold.
    I bought it at Target for $99!
    Nubnu, can you tell me the brand of your a/c? We also live in a garden apt with barred windows and are roasting in this heat...Thanks a lot.
  • nubnu
    nubnu
    I bought a Haier at Target for $99.
    It is rocking my world!!!!!!
    I is 5200 BTU's and has managed to cool off my entire one bedroom apt!
    I would even say its a little too cold right now.......Im wearing a heavy robe!
    Go get it! Its FIERCE!
  • garfunky
    garfunky
    faycat wrote: I'm apt searching right now and would love a garden apt,.... I always wonder what people who have those bars that don't have that built-in A/C space do.
    the back windows of garden apts are not always barred like that.
    ive seen many garden apts that have no security bars in the back at all.
    other cases where one rear window was left unbarred.
    in these cases,the fences are your security.
    Typically there will always be someone who freaks out specifically because there is a rear window with no bars, so while im here,
    some garden apts have sliding doors to access the yard and these have no bars either.....so im uncertain whether there is anything to actually be concerned about. up to the individual i guess.

    in other (rare) cases the LL has installed central air ...
    thus eliminating both the security and ac issue in one fell swoop.

    :!: gl in your hunt ! :!:
  • veets
    veets
    nubnu wrote: I bought a Haier at Target for $99.
    It is rocking my world!!!!!!
    I is 5200 BTU's and has managed to cool off my entire one bedroom apt!
    I would even say its a little too cold right now.......Im wearing a heavy robe!
    Go get it! Its FIERCE!
    I have to ask this question because I think other people might be thinking it.. How big is this apt? (and betting it is not the top floor of a brownstone/ How many square feet? That unit seems not too powerful...
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