Joliet Window Well Covers & Basement Windows
Joliet's housing is a barbell. About 15.7% of homes here predate 1940 and roughly 39% predate 1970 — but the median Joliet home was built in 1985, and more than 40% of the stock went up between 1990 and 2009. The Upper Bluff Historic District alone covers 616 buildings from around 1850 through the early 1900s, and the East Side district adds 290 more, mostly built between 1852 and 1924.
The older core sits on Joliet limestone — the same stone quarried here for the Old Joliet Prison and shipped out for the Chicago Water Tower. A limestone or rubble foundation with a hand-set well is a completely different job from a 1990s poured wall with a stamped steel well. We do both, and we measure before we quote either.
New flood maps redrew downtown
Four waterways shape drainage here: the Des Plaines River, Hickory Creek, Spring Creek and the I&M Canal. The flood maps that took effect on February 15, 2019 added a significant number of downtown properties to the floodplain — the area between the Des Plaines River and Eastern Avenue, from Ruby Street to Hickory Creek. The city has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers on a flood wall north of Ruby Street.
Two things follow from that. If you bought before 2019, your property's flood status may have changed without your house changing at all. And Joliet is a member of the National Flood Insurance Program but does not participate in the Community Rating System, so there is no community discount on premiums here the way there is in some neighboring towns.
Most basement water never involves a mapped floodplain anyway. In the July 2017 storms, the west side saw seven to eight inches of standing water on Infantry Drive. Water that deep on a street finds every open window well on the block.
Permits and egress in Joliet
Joliet enforces the 2015 International Residential Code with local amendments in Chapter 8 of the city code — an older edition than most of its neighbors, though the escape-opening requirements themselves have not changed across those editions.
Permits go through the Building & Inspectional Services Division of Community Development at 150 W. Jefferson Street; the number is 815-724-4070. The city's published residential permit list covers decks, garages, additions and similar work but does not address windows or basement finishing, so call before you assume your project is exempt.
Under the 2015 IRC an escape window needs at least 5.7 square feet of net clear opening, 24 inches of clear height and 20 inches of clear width, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. The well needs 9 square feet with 36 inches of projection and width, a ladder past 44 inches deep, and a cover that releases from inside without a key, tool or special knowledge.
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Joliet Window Well Covers | Joliet Window Wells | Joliet Egress Window Wells | Joliet Well Covers | Joliet Basement Window Well Covers