Egress Window Help...

[fish specialist]

I bought a house a year ago and supposedly the owners never had a problem with water in their basement. Well, this spring/summer my wife and I found that during hard rains two window wells would fill with water and eventually drain right down the wall into our basement. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or if you would think me digging the window wells deeper would help. I believe the windows were put in as a DIY job, and I'm not sure the person dug them deep enough. What do you guys think??

[sparcebag]

Lot a diggin but I think I'd put some drain tile in!All uncovered window wells have water problems,unless they were made originally and gravel for drainage was droped in under window down to footing.Well maybe not all but a large percentage!

[BoxMN]

Same thing happens to the north side of my 1945 house. I just keep a window well cover over them and no problem. But thanks for reminding me, as we got new siding and I didn't put covers on yet! doh! At least I have a few months to get that task done

[fish specialist]

I put covers on the windows to try and stop the water, but we still got a waterfall. BoxMN, how big are your covers? Do they extend far beyond the edge of the window well?

[BoxMN]

Our covers are slightly bigger than the wells.

One other thing that happens - if my gutter get clogged on that north side, and the rain just cascades over the gutters, and down next to the house, the wells will fill up and water will come in even with the covers, as it sneaks around, etc. I haven't spent a ton of time yet sloping the terrain away from the house, as it is slightly going away, but if you don't have gutters that would probably do it too. Or if your gutters get full of gunk and overflow that would do it as it does to mine.

I have alomst started digging and adding in tile, but figured it is easier to just keep the gutters clean

Good luck, our basement is bone dry except when/if this happens.

[IFallsRon]

Start with the grading around the well. Make sure that the ground is tapered away from the house so that the rain off the roof is not pooling and flowing back into the well. Also make sure that your ground is packed tightly to the house so that you're not getting water down the foundation and into the well.

If you don't want to go with gutters, get a piece or two of galvanized rain deflector to put on the roof just above the well. That may be enough to move the water left or right of the well and get it running into the yard.

[fish specialist]

I do have gutters, and clogging is probably one of the main culprits. But I hate having to get up on the roof every once in a while to check. Has anyone tried those gutter covers? I remember someone telling me once that they didn't do a very good job of keeping gunk out.

[sparcebag]

The screen covers dont do much good! but the covers that rely on waters surface tension work great!they are costly tho.

[fish specialist]

Wow, I looked into those surface tension gutter covers and they seem like something I need. Does anyone have these on their roofs? I suppose once you put new shingles on you have to reinstall the covers.

[sparcebag]

If there installed correctly they go over the freeze shield,then the roofing goes on so they should'nt have to be removed,unless they get damaged,and I read they're pretty hail resistant.