Second floor

[Calikate]

Hi!

I'm in california, I'm building a new home with a huge open space on the second floor that I want to use as my daycare. Just wondering if you are allowed to use a second floor space? I have seen some people do it in basements....

[cara041083]

I'm not sure about California, but where I am u have to have an exit located in the daycare. So if it's in a basement then it would have to be a walk out basment. U would check with licensing. It maybe different for an upper level

[Second Home]

I am sure it varies by state . When I first opened I used an upstairs room for my playroom and as long as I had a securely fastened gate at the top of the stairs there was no problem with being upstairs .

[CraftyMom]

My state requires two exits from the basement. One being the stairs to go upstairs, the second has to be a full exit on the opposite side of the basement

[MarinaVanessa]

I'm in CA and I used to use my second floor in addition to my first floor as daycare space. All you have to do is draw the floorplan on the floorplan form and designate it as daycare space. You'll also need to lock all other non-designated daycare rooms during the day or make them "inaccessible" and install safety gates both at the top and bottom of the stairs (keep this in mind when you design and install your stair railing, I have these terrible metal railings and had to "rig" a gate to get it to stay securely. Now I have the issue that the pressure of the gate is widening the rail ).

Also think about where the children will enter, exit, eat and toilet. If you will be using your yard for outdoor play and your kitchen/dining area to cook/serve food during DC hours you'll have to safely bring all of the kids down the stairs, you can't leave them unattended (at least not here you can't). Personally I got tired of taking the children up and down the stairs, but that was me, so I only do DC downstairs now. Also you'll need a bathroom nearby in the upstairs.

Lucky you!! I want to design a house around my daycare!! happyface

[itlw8]

check your fire regulations if it is allowed you probably need a fire escape

[mountainside13]

For upstairs we have to have a ladder attached to the window in case of a fire. For the basement, we have to have an egress window.

[Unregistered]

Windows had exit where I had my downstairs daycare. There were only 4 windows and since it was a bilevel, I had the stairs going up. So they had 4 windows and one door to get out if needed. It was not a walk basement

[MarinaVanessa]

Regardless of whether you do DC upstairs or downstairs we in CA need alternate fire escapes. It's a part of the licensing process. We need the floorplan with planned escape routes, funny thing is I included upstairs space as DC space and I was never required to have an actual ladder. But I'm a small DC home, large DC homes have much more safety requirements.