Hi,
I've been a homeowner for the past 2 years, and twice in the past 2 weeks one of our two basement window wells has filled up with water during heavy downpours and poured into the basement.
I went out there today to take a look at the well and I have to admit - I'm confused about how basement window well drainage is supposed to work. Here's what I found:
- There is a lot of soil, mulch, and rocks in the window well. I used a shovel to try to clear most of this away (trying to leave the rocks, but they're pretty mixed in with everything else)
- There's some sort of a grated drain in the window well. After removing the grate, I stuck a snake down into the drain. It went down the entire length of the snake (which I assume is 25 feet). To show you how little I know, I didn't realize window wells have drains! I also noticed that there was visible pooled water in the drain.
- The other window well is 6 feet away from this window well and it looked pretty dry. This makes me think that doing something with the slope and/or covering the window well won't really help.
- After cleaning the grate up a bit I turned the hose on to see if water drained better. Looked like it was draining a bit, but then it started to pool again.
- I have not noticed an issue with water coming in through this window in the past.
I have no idea what to do or how to deal with this issue. Is there something I can do to fix this issue myself? If I should hire someone to help, what kind of person should I look up?
Thanks,
PB
I've been a homeowner for the past 2 years, and twice in the past 2 weeks one of our two basement window wells has filled up with water during heavy downpours and poured into the basement.
I went out there today to take a look at the well and I have to admit - I'm confused about how basement window well drainage is supposed to work. Here's what I found:
- There is a lot of soil, mulch, and rocks in the window well. I used a shovel to try to clear most of this away (trying to leave the rocks, but they're pretty mixed in with everything else)
- There's some sort of a grated drain in the window well. After removing the grate, I stuck a snake down into the drain. It went down the entire length of the snake (which I assume is 25 feet). To show you how little I know, I didn't realize window wells have drains! I also noticed that there was visible pooled water in the drain.
- The other window well is 6 feet away from this window well and it looked pretty dry. This makes me think that doing something with the slope and/or covering the window well won't really help.
- After cleaning the grate up a bit I turned the hose on to see if water drained better. Looked like it was draining a bit, but then it started to pool again.
- I have not noticed an issue with water coming in through this window in the past.
I have no idea what to do or how to deal with this issue. Is there something I can do to fix this issue myself? If I should hire someone to help, what kind of person should I look up?
Thanks,
PB