Algonquin Window Well Covers & Basement Windows
Algonquin's finished-basement handout says something most towns leave out entirely: a window well needs drainage consisting of a vertical drain pipe connected to the foundation drainage system. Not just a well — a well plumbed into the same system carrying water away from your footings.
The village straddles the Fox River, roughly 78% of it in McHenry County. The median home here was built in 1994, and 54% of the housing went up between 1990 and 2009 — right at the age where original steel wells rust through at the base and the drainage stone underneath silts up.
The record here is still 2013
The Fox River at Algonquin crested at 12.70 feet on April 23, 2013, and that remains the record. The July 2017 flood, which broke records elsewhere along the river, came second here at 12.38 feet on July 18. Woods Creek runs south to north up the far west side of the village, and there is a dam on the Fox at Algonquin.
The village has taken an unusual approach to the problem. Rather than building its way out in concrete, Algonquin has spent about twenty years on nature-based flood management — a natural area inventory in 2005, two watershed plans in 2013, reconnecting creeks to their floodplains, naturalised detention — backed by more than $1.6 million in state watershed grants.
None of which drains your window well. That part stays yours.
Permits and egress in Algonquin
The village's finished-basement handout is specific and genuinely useful. Every sleeping room and every basement needs at least one operable emergency escape and rescue opening: 5.7 square feet of net clear opening (5.0 square feet for grade-level openings), a sill no more than 44 inches above the floor, and operation from inside without keys, tools or special knowledge. The well needs at least 9 square feet with 36-inch minimum dimensions, a ladder or steps where it is deeper than 44 inches, and that vertical drain pipe tied into the foundation drainage system.
One honest caveat: that handout is written against an older edition of the residential code, and the village's current permit packet does not name an IRC edition at all. We are not going to print a code year we cannot verify. Call Community Development at (847) 658-2700, option 3, and ask which edition applies to your project.
Permits go through the Building Department at 2200 Harnish Drive. The village publishes separate checklists for window and door work and for storm drainage, so mention both if your job involves digging.
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