Straight answers about window wells — what the code actually requires, what the materials really do, and what water in a basement actually costs. No sales pitch, just the facts.
Illinois follows the International Residential Code (IRC). If your basement has a bedroom or sleeping area, these are the numbers an inspector is looking for. Your village may amend them, so always confirm with your local building department.
Every egress cover and ladder we install is built to meet these requirements.
A window well cover is only as good as what it's made of. Here's what ours are made of and what those materials are rated to do.
Polycarbonate is the same family of material used in safety glazing and machine guards. The thin bubble covers sold at big-box stores are usually much thinner plastic or acrylic, which goes brittle in sunlight and cracks under snow load.
That snow doesn't fall once and leave. It piles into open wells, melts during a thaw, refreezes overnight, and works at the seams of a cover all winter long. Add spring rain on already-saturated ground and an open window well turns into a basin pointed straight at your basement window.
A cover is one of the least expensive things you can do about it. Keeping rain, snowmelt and debris out of the well keeps water away from the window frame in the first place.
If the well serves an emergency escape window, yes. The code requires that covers, bars and grilles be releasable or removable from inside without a key, a tool, special knowledge, or more force than it takes to open the window normally. Our egress covers are built to open that way.
More than 44 inches deep and the code requires a permanently affixed ladder or steps. Ladders need at least 12 inches of inside width, have to project at least 3 inches from the wall, and the rungs can be no more than 18 inches apart.
No. G.E. Lexan polycarbonate transmits about 88% of visible light, so a covered well stays bright. Most homeowners tell us the basement looks brighter afterward, because the cover keeps the well clean.
You can, but stock sizes rarely fit older or oversized wells, and the gaps are what let leaves, water and animals in. We measure and build each cover on site in your driveway so it fits your well exactly.
They stop one common cause of it — rain and snowmelt collecting in an open well and pushing past the window. A cover isn't a substitute for working gutters, grading, or a sump pump, but it removes a direct path for water right at the window.
Ours are built to support up to 800 lbs, which covers snow load, a person standing on it, or a child or pet walking across it.
Not sure whether your wells meet code? We'll measure them on site and tell you straight — free, no obligation.