Ingress-egress window wells impact home drainage
Home drainage is impacted by ingress-egress window wells. Many times throughout the year I am asked to comment or give opinion on a homeowners desire to create an access (ingress) and exit (egress) window area to qualify their basement square footage as living space. This sounds like a seductive proposition from a monetary position when someone tells the homeowner that the value of their home will go up such and such amount based on the increase in the value per square foot of the basement as finished living area instead of basement. It does not come without its’ downside however.
An ingress-egress window is a huge window well with a large window that is large enough for a person to exit, mainly in the event of a fire in the basement and a blocked basement door stairway. It really does not matter if there is already a stairway to the basement. The building code in most areas of the country mandate the ingress-egress window for this purpose to qualify the area as completed living space.
The contractor usually cuts a large hole in the side of the foundation and pours a concrete pony wall around the outside of the foundation wall stepping out about 3-4 feet or even larger from the foundation. Most often no french drains are mentioned or installed. Most often nothing is constructed and plumbed to remove rainwater from running right into the basement. In fact, in most cases, from my experience, the contractor just pours rock into the hole that is created at the side of the foundation and calls it good. Nothing is done to prevent rainwater from filling the lower level of the enclosure and running down the foundation wall wetting the basement.
Some contractors put in a spot drain in the bottom of the window well area or ingress-egress window, but do not connect it to anything because it is below grade to everything to drain it to. This looks almost like it was meant to work, but never does. So building contractors just wing it and do nothing in most cases, or just stuff the pipe from the spot drain in the ground.
I recommend in almost all cases to not even create the ingress-egress window from a drainage standpoint. Trying this may sound great, but may not turn out that way monetarily. If you do elect to do this, at a minimum I advise that you do something to remove as much of the groundwater and rainwater as you can that causes flooding of these areas. The added budget for drainage is never figured in the equation. Better to put in a budget for hand excavated french drains and coverings than to repair the water damage to finished basement areas after the fact.
Cover the window well or ingress-egress window with a tall, posted up, shed type roof covering so the water does not just rain into this hole. Install a hand excavated french drain in front of, but not on, the exterior pony foundation wall that encloses the window well or ingress-egress window addition. Make a better grade for runoff at the foundation in that area. The shed roof should be wide enough to protect the area while still allowing someone access in height to get out in case of fire. The shed roof over the window addition should be able to run the rainwater into a gutter or directly into the french drain to vent the water away from the area, reducing or preventing saturation of groundwater and leaking into the below grade areas.
If you do not go further than what was originally planned, as I have described, you likely will suffer from groundwater entry into your finished area basement. This is an expensive lesson, after the water comes in. Building inspectors and contractors don’t address every important item with respect to your needs concerning a dry basement. They won’t even mention the words hand excavated french drains in most cases.
Cover these additions, protect and plumb them, and vent the area rainwater with french drains. Hand excavated french drains to be specific. My experience as a former real estate developer and broker, home builder, and contractor, has taught me, with respect to ingress-egress window entry and window wells, that a stitch in time saves more than nine.