Widow well drains

[Fanatical Meat]

I have a window well that fills with water. I will improve the grade however I am having trouble finding where the drain pipe is. I have dug 6-8” below the bottom of the window and have not hit a substantial amount of gravel or any piping.
What is their typical depth?
House was built 1960
I have a second window well however that one is under our deck and effectively inaccessible.

 

[BoomerD]

Widow well drains​

Well...after seeing that title...I am very disappointed in the direction this thread went...

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Well...after seeing that title...I am very disappointed in the direction this thread went...

So am I

 

[lxskllr]

Maybe there isn't a drain. I have two window wells, and I think they're drainless. About the same vintage as your place. I'm open to being wrong though.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Maybe there isn't a drain. I have two window wells, and I think they're drainless. About the same vintage as your place. I'm open to being wrong though.

Dug down about 10” below the bottom of the window and no sign other than there are more rocks which could have been gravel but there aren’t that many rocks.

 

[skyking]

I would raise up the edge of it to prevent water flowing in, and then put a cover on it like this.
https://windowwellsupply.com/Custom...DBOmnNuVdw5BO7Dyq8z6MojEicX9uO_IaAn24EALw_wcB

That is if you cannot find a drain.
Many times they are drained down into the footing drain. If you don´t have one of those youŕe kinda screwed.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I would raise up the edge of it to prevent water flowing in, and then put a cover on it like this.
https://windowwellsupply.com/Custom...DBOmnNuVdw5BO7Dyq8z6MojEicX9uO_IaAn24EALw_wcB

That is if you cannot find a drain.
Many times they are drained down into the footing drain. If you don´t have one of those youŕe kinda screwed.

I’ve dug about 10” down, would a weeping or drain as you described be deeper than that?
10” from bottom of the window sill give or take a bit.

 

[skyking]

Footing drains are below the level of the basement slab, so yeah. You have a ways to go.
I´d be careful not to make a problem at this point. Is the surface graded away from the foundation to carry surface water away? That is first. make sure downspouts and surface water flow away.

 

[Thump553]

I would raise up the edge of it to prevent water flowing in, and then put a cover on it like this.
https://windowwellsupply.com/Custom...DBOmnNuVdw5BO7Dyq8z6MojEicX9uO_IaAn24EALw_wcB

That is if you cannot find a drain.
Many times they are drained down into the footing drain. If you don´t have one of those youŕe kinda screwed.

This. I grew up in a 1954 ranch house designed and built by my father. It originally had window wells (not hooked up to any drain, gravel and rock bedding). Even though the (basically flat) yard was sloped away from the house, the wells would occasionally fill (especially with snow) and the windows eventually started to leak and rot. After about thirty years he wrote this off as a bad idea, took out the windows and concreted in the holes in the wall and fill the wells with soil. They lived there at least another twenty years with no problems with the fix. After the fix the basement was darker, but frankly those windows get so covered with dirt and dust anyway so they don't let in that much light.

 

[skyking]

I'm putting one of those well lids on the new house build on the one well window. it is along the walk up to the entry and I don't want somebody to take a header into the well.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Still filled with water during yesterdays epic rain. I cannot find a drain or weeping pipe. I’m going to dig down a tad more and ideally put a wider (up to down) metal well wall. Going to seal the crap out of it too. I’ll work on better grading too this week.
This sort of sucks and it sucks more that it hasn’t been a problem until last year or the year before.
Not meant to be a P&N thing, weather is changing we do get more extreme weather in my area now.

 

[jmagg]

Plugged gutter downspouts?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Plugged gutter downspouts?

That’s on the inspection list. I do not have water overflowing near the window.
Embarrassed to say this, I cannot figure out how to get my gutter cover off.

 

[jmagg]

Ive always thought gutter guards to be less effective, because during downpours it seems you lose surface tension and the water flys right off.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Ive always thought gutter guards to be less effective, because during downpours it seems you lose surface tension and the water flys right off.

Kind of agree, not they’re not from our ownership. Just sucks no way to flip up or slide off, no screws or bolts holding it anywhere. I’m probably going to drill the rivet out at the end and remove the cover then shine a light into the gutter to see how clean and hopefully notice a way of removing the cover.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

No drain found. Old well barely made it to the bottom of the window and that was nearly level with the ground. I got an upgrade, this one is a bit too tall I’ll just leave it 5” above ground level that way I can add soil to hopefully help the run off

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

The answer is awnings at least 6' out from the house. Keeps the water away so it never gets to the window wells. Keeps water away from the foundation between window wells. Allows the ground floor windows to be open when raining.