Exterior Solutions
Window Wells
A window well with no working drain is a bucket held against the side of your house with a window at the bottom of it.
Priced per well · Egress wells quoted separately
What you get
- Proper drainage so the well empties instead of filling
- Egress-sized wells that meet the code requirement for a basement bedroom
- More daylight into the basement
- Covers that keep out leaves, snow, and debris without blocking egress
What a window well is supposed to do
A window well is a retaining structure that holds soil back from a basement window so the window can sit below grade and still admit light and air.
The critical word is retaining. The well is holding back earth. It is not designed to hold back water, and neither is the window inside it.
Which means that everything depends on the well’s ability to get rid of water that lands in it.
Why they flood
No drain. A great many wells on older Nova Scotia homes were installed as a simple metal or plastic ring pressed into the soil, with no drainage provision whatsoever. In ordinary weather they are fine. In a heavy rain, they are a bucket.
A drain that no longer drains. Where a drain was installed, it was often a small stone pocket or a short pipe with no filter fabric. Over years it silts up, and the well fills at the same rate as one that never had a drain.
Grade feeding it. The rim of a window well should stand above the finished ground around it, and that ground should fall away. Where soil has been added over the years, or the yard has settled toward the house, the well sits in a low spot collecting every bit of surface runoff nearby.
Debris. Leaves, needles, and windblown material accumulate in an uncovered well and block whatever drainage does exist. In winter, an uncovered well fills with snow that melts into a well with nowhere to go.
Once water in the well rises above the window sill, it comes in. Window frames and seals are weather barriers designed to shed rain running down a wall. They are not rated to hold back standing water under pressure.
How we build one that works
Excavate below the sill. The well is dug deeper than the bottom of the window, so there is a reservoir below the point where water could enter.
Build a stone column. Clean washed stone fills that depth, wrapped in filter fabric, providing void space to hold a surge and a path down.
Connect to a real outlet. The stone column ties into the footing drain where one is functioning, or to another positive discharge. This is the difference between a well that drains and a well that holds. Where the footing drain has itself failed, that gets addressed first, see exterior weeping tile.
Set the well proud of grade. The rim stands above finished ground, and the ground slopes away from it.
Seal it to the wall. The well is fastened and sealed where it meets the foundation, so runoff cannot find its way down behind the well and against the wall.
Cover it. A clear cover keeps out precipitation and debris while letting light through.
Egress wells
A basement bedroom needs a legal escape route. Where that route is a window opening into a well, the well itself must be large enough for a person to get out through the window and up out of the well, which means considerably more projection from the wall than a standard light well provides, and steps or a fixed ladder where it is deep.
If you are finishing a basement to add a bedroom, or converting it toward a secondary suite, egress is not a detail to leave until inspection. We size these to the current requirement and confirm against your municipality’s interpretation before we install.
Questions
About window wells
Why does my window well fill with water?
Almost always one of three reasons. The well has no drain at all, which was common on older installations. It has a drain that has silted closed or was never connected to anything. Or the surrounding grade slopes toward the well and is actively feeding it surface runoff. The result is the same: the well fills, water rises above the window sill, and it enters through the window frame. A window is not a below-grade waterproofing product, and it will not hold back standing water.
What size does an egress window well need to be?
Under the National Building Code as adopted in Nova Scotia, a bedroom requires an openable window meeting minimum unobstructed opening dimensions, and where that window opens into a window well the well must provide enough clearance in front of it for a person to get out. Practically, that means a substantially larger well than a standard light well, with a specified projection from the wall. If the well is deep, a permanently affixed ladder or steps may also be required. We size egress wells to the current requirement and confirm against your municipality before installing.
Should I put a cover on my window well?
Generally yes. A clear polycarbonate cover keeps out rain, snow, leaves, and debris while still admitting light, and it stops the well filling with wet leaves that block the drain. On an egress well the cover must be openable from inside without tools or special knowledge: a bolted-down or heavy cover on an egress well defeats the purpose and fails inspection.
Can a window well drain into my weeping tile?
Yes, and where a functioning footing drain exists that is the usual and correct outlet. The stone column beneath the well connects down to the footing drain, and water leaves through the same route as everything else. Where the footing drain has failed, connecting a well to it just moves the problem, so we check the drain first: the well is often the visible symptom of a larger drainage failure.
My window well is rusted out. Does it need replacing?
If it is corroded through it is no longer retaining soil, which means the soil is slumping into the well and burying the drain. Steel wells in our climate have a finite life, particularly where road salt is in play. Replacement with a galvanized or composite well, done properly with a stone drainage column and a positive outlet, resolves it permanently.
Further reading
More on window wells
Yard Drainage Solutions for Halifax Homes
Standing water, soggy lawn, and runoff heading for the house. How to read where yard water goes, and the drainage that redirects it before it reaches concrete.
Seal Foundation Cracks Before Autumn Sets In
Autumn rain, then freeze-thaw, then spring melt. Why a hairline crack in September is a real leak by April, and what a pre-winter check should cover.
Foundation Cracks Are a Door, Not Just a Leak
A gap through your foundation admits water, mice and soil gas. Why sealing it properly closes three problems at once, and what a surface patch does not.
Where we do this work
Window Wells across mainland Nova Scotia
Free assessment
Tell us what you’re seeing.
We’ll come out, diagnose it properly, and give you a written quote. No charge, and no pressure. If a cheaper fix will solve it, that’s what we’ll tell you.
(902) 555-0100