Flooding Window Wells Repair Northern Virginia

Flooding window wells can leak through your basement windows and cause major flooding in your home. What is the solution to stop your window wells from filling up with water? If your home’s window wells are fully up with water, there are two primary causes of the problem. One may be that your window wells do not have plastic covers, and when it rains, the rate of water goes directly into your window wells and overflows into your home. The other cause of flooding window wells may be that the water table rises during rain storms, and the water table rises to a point where it floods out your window well. Some window wells that flood your basement need a plastic flat or bubble window cover.

Solutions To Stop Your Window Wells From Flooding

The best and easy solution to stop water from flooding your basements and window wells are to have us install plastic window well covers if the water is coming in from the top of the window well. If the water accumulating in your window well is from groundwater when the water table rises during the rainy season, the solution is a little bit more complex. Fairfax Contractor has vast experience installing egress windows, and by building code, they require a large window well. Through our vast experience in installing egress windows with their oversized window wells that exceed nine ft.², we’ve come up with some solutions for the groundwater infiltration into a window well. The best way to stop water from entering your window well from groundwater is to install a concrete base in the window well itself. But if you choose to line the bottom of your window wells with concrete and take care of the cover, you will only make the problem worse. It’s a twofold solution, install properly fitting window well covers, make sure the galvanized window wells are in good shape, seal any cracks along the foundation, and for concrete in the base. This solution will create a completely sealed window well that will not fill up with water. No more than a sealed jar in the rain, that is what we build. For extra protection. We often install a 9 x 9-floor drain before we were the concrete. This 9 x 9-floor drain will have an inch and a half PVC pipe attached below the concrete. It is important to cap the drain pipe because if you don’t, the hydrostatic pressure of the water from the water table will simply push up to the pipe into the drain and flood your window well.

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Installing Drain Boxes In Your Flooding Window Wells

If the topography of your northern Virginia home allows you to get the right slope, you can utilize gravity to drain your window wells. Most window wells are approximately 18 inches deep, and your property would need a slope to install a gravity drainage system to remove the water from your window wells. This is the best option for stopping new window wells from flooding. If your home processes the topography, and grade, you may want to opt for this solution. The installation is quite simple, Fairfax Contractor can simply call Miss utilities, and once we had a clear ticket, we start the excavation process. We would excavate down the grade of the lowest point of your window well, install a 9 x 9-floor drain, and attach PVC pipe at a grade of a quarter-inch to an 8th of an inch to an area that is 7 feet from your property line. This methodology for installing a drain box in the bottom of your basement window well is a foolproof solution to flooding window wells. The problem is that this is much more expensive than filling your window well with a concrete and plastic window well covers. And many homes do not have the topography to allow the system to work properly. But it certainly is a solution to stopping flooding window wells

Solutions on For Flooding Window Wells

If you’re home’s window wells fill up with water every time it rains, you’re probably thinking that the rain is coming into the window well because it doesn’t have a cover. This is almost always not the case. Most window wells flood because the groundwater table has risen almost to the surface of your yard. Water always takes the path of least resistance. That means as the water table rises, it will flood your window well and ultimately enter your home’s basement. What is a solution to this troubling problem? Fairfax Contractor has a time-tested method to stop this problem from happening again.

Installing A Sump Pump In Your Window Well To Keep It From Flooding

One of the more complicated solutions to flooding window wells is to go into the window well itself. This is going to be quite costly, permits will be needed to be pulled for the electrical connections, and if the power goes out during a heavy rainstorm, your system simply won’t work. Of course, you could have a battery backup DC sump pump to your system, but that’s only given for 9 hours. After those 9 hours, your window wells will be flooding. It sounds like a conceptual idea, but the above-described methodology is probably the best solution to keeping your window wells from flooding.

How Not To Keep Your Window Wells From Flooding

I would advise you not to listen to a drainage contractor that it buys you to put in drain boxes connected to your exterior home drainage system. If a drainage contractor recommends a solution, do not fall for this method. After 37 years in the contracting business, I know that most exterior foundation drainage systems have been rendered ineffective because they were constructed of black perforated thin wall piping that simply runs around your foundation without an exit point. Tying the flooding window wells into the existing exterior drain tiles is a recipe for disaster. A professional consultant must first analyze the problem of flooding window wells before a solution can be had. As a contractor, I had emergency calls where standard window wells were full of water leaking into the basement, and the homeowners have covered the window well with plywood and plastic tarps. Still, the water keeps coming into their basement, and to their dismay, they tried to alleviate the problem by utilizing a shop vacuum to drain the water out of the window well and their basement. Most often, the solution to their window well flooding problems has nothing to do with the plastic window will cover. Some of the inherent problems they are experiencing involve cracked plastic window well covers. Corrugated metal window wells that have failed and coordinated may be the problem. Custom metal window wells that are below grade can fail. The most common problem, as stated earlier, is simply the groundwater has risen above the depth of the window well. Water simply fills the window well because there’s nothing to stop it.

Window Well Encapsulation

Window Well Encapsulation is the key to stopping your Northern Virginia basement corrugated steel window wells from flooding Our solution to this problem is to design a system that will stop the water table when it rises from entering your window well. The first to solve this waterproofing problem is to excavate your window well below the corrugated window well and install a drain box. Depending on the size of your window well, we will determine the size of the drain box and connect a PVC pipe that has been capped. If you’re coordinated metal window well is damaged, we will replace it in its entirety. If you’re coordinated window well is below grade, we will have an extension to bring it to above grade. Once the window will itself has been raised above the grade of your property and the drain box along with the PVC piping has been installed, we will move on to solving the infiltration of groundwater from the base of the window well. This is accomplished by installing 4 inches of concrete to assure the groundwater will never rise into your window well. The drain box only acts as a drainage for any condensation within your window well system. The joints between your corrugated metal window well and your home’s foundation will be sealed with a premium exterior waterproof caulk. The final step will be to install a new plastic window cover with the grade to move the water away from the window well. This new plastic window will be sealed with waterproof caulk, virtually forming a basin that is completely protected from not only any rainwater from above but, more importantly, water rising from below your window well. Now you can enjoy a waterproofed window well that will never flood again.

Custom Built Basement Window Well Covers And Wells

Most window wells are made of galvanized steel and have been installed in your home in standard sizes. Standard-sized window well covers are available in most hardware stores such as Home Depot and Lowes. But what if you are looking for a custom-sized window well cover, where can you buy an irregularly sized window cover? Fairfax Contractor operates a custom welding shop that can fabricate a window well cover to just about any size you may require. Our custom fabricated window well covers are made of welded steel and have plexiglass installed into the custom framing.