Egress well draining, poor soil, no drain tile
So I think I have the worst possible situation for an egress window, but I’m hoping to install one nonetheless. I have clay soil with no exterior drain tile around my house and no interior drain system either. Luckily I’ve never had any water problems in my basement. I run a de-humidifier during the summer, but I’ve left cardboard boxes sitting on the slab floor for years and they’ve stayed in perfect condition. Also, I’m lucky enough to have long eaves at 30 inches that cover most of the well, and I have excellent grade-sloping (hillside) away from the well.
My question is, given these conditions, what is my best option? Should I just slope the well away from the house with a bed full of gravel? I wondered about installing a perforated drain in the back floor of the well that is angled at 45 degress or so into the hillside (fill the hole with gravel too). I can’t trench a drain “to daylight” down the hill side because of a city gas line, though. Thanks for any advice.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
So if you put a drain in that window well, it would run into a gravel kind of dry well? Optimally if you do the drain,getting it to daylight seems best if possible. I can't tell you how much water may come off of your roof to fill that window well, and I can't tell you how fast the soil percolates there under that window. Also bear in mind it could be frozen and you could get a rainstorm in those conditions of the temperature spikes in winter, then you will have zero percolation.
Have you considered adding a window-well cover? If your basement is otherwise dry and water is not seeping into the window well, this may provide the peace of mind you are looking for.