Part of our Window Well Replacement in Colorado Springs guide.
A window well that holds water is a basement leak that has not happened yet, or one that already has. In Colorado Springs the cause is usually ordinary: clay soil, a fast storm, melting snow, or a drain full of silt. Affordable Services Inc. replaces wells and rebuilds the drainage under them. This is how we sort the cause before we dig. The service page is window well replacement in Colorado Springs.
What flooding looks like
You do not need standing water every week to have a problem. Watch for a well that is still wet a day after rain, a line of dirt on the glass, gravel that stays dark, or a musty smell in the basement after a storm. Ice in the well in January is the same water, just frozen. Leaves packed in the bottom are a clue that the drain has not seen daylight in a while.
Clay soil
Much of the ground here takes water slowly. A well is a low spot by design. When the soil around it cannot soak up a storm, the well becomes the drain for that side of the house. Adding more gravel on top does not fix clay underneath. The water still needs a pipe or a slope that carries it away.
If the lawn above the well is also soggy, the well is only the place you notice a yard drainage problem. That is worth a look at our drainage services before anyone sells you a cover and leaves.
Monsoon rain
Late summer storms drop a lot of water in a short time. A well that handles a slow spring rain can fill in one August downpour because the drain cannot keep up with the rate. That is not a reason to ignore it. The next storm will do the same thing, and a full well puts that water against the window.
A cover keeps some of that rain out. It does not help if the yard is sloping into the well and running under the rim. Grade and drain still have to work.
Snowmelt
Snow against the foundation melts for days. If the soil under the surface is still frozen, meltwater cannot sink, so it travels sideways into the well. You can have a dry fall and a wet basement in March for this reason alone. Cleaning leaves out in October gives the drain a chance. A well that is already rusted or sitting below the surrounding grade will keep filling anyway.
A silted drain
Most wells are supposed to have a drain at the bottom. Dirt, seeds, and decomposed leaves plug it. Once it is plugged, the well is a bucket. You can test this yourself: clear the gravel until you see the drain, and pour a bucket of water. If it sits there, the drain is not doing its job.
Sometimes we can clear it. Sometimes the pipe is crushed or was never tied to anything, and the fix is to rebuild the drainage when we set a new well. We can tell which one it is once the old gravel is out.
When cleaning is enough, and when it is not
Cleaning is enough when the metal is solid, the well is still tight to the wall, and the only issue was debris on a drain that still works once it is open. Put a cover on afterward so you are not doing the same job every fall. Our note on which window well cover fits is the next step.
Replacement is the better job when the well is rusted through, cracked, leaning off the foundation, or lower than the soil around it. A cover on a hole does not keep the basement dry. We dig out the old well, set a new one, rebuild the drain, and grade the soil so water moves away.
What to do before you call
- Look in each well after the next rain and note which ones hold water.
- See whether the ground outside the well tilts toward the house.
- Check for rust holes and for soil piled above the rim.
- Note whether a basement room uses that window as a way out. A larger egress well is a different project than a standard replacement, and local rules vary. We review that at the estimate.
Call 719-572-1768. The estimate is free. If we are regrading or resetting rock along the foundation, we can finish those beds with landscaping in Colorado Springs so the side of the house is not left torn up.
