Solution Needed For Below Grade Windows
#1
08-10-08, 11:03 AM
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Solution Needed For Below Grade Windows
Hello,
I am looking for a solution for two below grade windows. One window is on the driveway side of the house with a poured cement driveway and window well facing North East. The other is in the back of the house with a poured cement walkway and window well facing North West.
This has only happened twice in 10 years but it happened yesterday. If the rain downpours from the North, the rain collects in the window wells. If it is a real downpour, the rain actually collects faster than it can soak into the rock bed in the bottom of the well. I have actually seen this happen where I look at the window and it looks like a half filled fish tank. The water leaks around the window seals and actually spits out of the holes in the base runner mean't for small amounts of water to run away.
I am also wondering if some of the water that collects on the cement slabs runs against the house walls into the window wells instead of being soaked into the ground where the house sump pump takes care of it?
Any ideas?
Kaderina
I am looking for a solution for two below grade windows. One window is on the driveway side of the house with a poured cement driveway and window well facing North East. The other is in the back of the house with a poured cement walkway and window well facing North West.
This has only happened twice in 10 years but it happened yesterday. If the rain downpours from the North, the rain collects in the window wells. If it is a real downpour, the rain actually collects faster than it can soak into the rock bed in the bottom of the well. I have actually seen this happen where I look at the window and it looks like a half filled fish tank. The water leaks around the window seals and actually spits out of the holes in the base runner mean't for small amounts of water to run away.
I am also wondering if some of the water that collects on the cement slabs runs against the house walls into the window wells instead of being soaked into the ground where the house sump pump takes care of it?
Any ideas?
Kaderina
#2
08-10-08, 12:56 PM
Member
Solution Needed For Below Grade Windows
A few questions -
Where is the sump pump and drain tile (depth, location), if any, that your mentioned in the last sentence?
Is there a drain in the window wells into the sump or drain tiles?
Have you looked out during the rain to see if the water is overflowing into the window well?
Do you have plastic covers over the window wells?
Dick
Where is the sump pump and drain tile (depth, location), if any, that your mentioned in the last sentence?
Is there a drain in the window wells into the sump or drain tiles?
Have you looked out during the rain to see if the water is overflowing into the window well?
Do you have plastic covers over the window wells?
Dick
#4
08-15-08, 04:00 PM
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Concretemasonry
A few questions -
Where is the sump pump and drain tile (depth, location), if any, that your mentioned in the last sentence?
Is there a drain in the window wells into the sump or drain tiles?
Have you looked out during the rain to see if the water is overflowing into the window well?
Do you have plastic covers over the window wells?
Dick
Where is the sump pump and drain tile (depth, location), if any, that your mentioned in the last sentence?
Is there a drain in the window wells into the sump or drain tiles?
Have you looked out during the rain to see if the water is overflowing into the window well?
Do you have plastic covers over the window wells?
Dick
The sump pump is located in a room below the window in the South west corner of the house. ( About 5 feet away from the window on the driveway side of the house.) The house was built back in 1957 so I have no idea of the depth of the drain tile. I would imagine that the drain tile is around the whole house? It is a poured cement foundation.
When the rain comes down as hard as it did during this storm, it seems to collect on the cement slabs. The drainage holes in the cement and the areas where there are cuts in the slabs for movement and to take away the water, can't get rid of the water fast enough. It seems to run down the driveway but also runs into the separation area between the house and the cement slab. This water then seems to flow against the house wall and eventually into the window well as it is lower that the driveway cement slab or the walkway cement slab in the back of the house. The window well is about 4 inches deeper than the window, filled with gravel at the bottom. There is no direct drain to the sump pump. The water is meant to drain down to the drain tiles.
The water is not over flowing the actual window well. The window is about 1/3 above grade and 2/3 below grade. The water has got to about 2 to 3 inches up the window making the water depth about 6 to 7 inches deep in the window well above the gravel bottom.
There is no plastic covers over the window wells at this time. I really wonder if that would help as there is a cement lip around the window wells. The problem is the water travelling along the house wall below grade and into the wells.
Is there possibly something that I can seal the crack/separation line between the cement slab and the house wall. Something that can flex with winters and slab movement? It must also be available in Canada as that is where I am.
Also, would it help to dig the window well deeper? That is another thought in my mind.
Hope that helps answer your questions,
Kaderina
