All About our egress window installation including enlarging the basement windows, egress window cost, stone window wells, etc!
What is an egress window? How much does an egress window installation cost? Why do you want in a basement escape window? In today's post, I'm sharing everything I've learned regarding installing basement egress windows.
The decision to invest in our basement windows
We've lived in this house now for just over eight years. There's so many areas of the house that still need to be updated, need to be renovated, need to be addressed. You can peek in on our home tour for more details of what each space looks like today.
A few years ago, I wouldn't have imagined wanting to put the time and money into our basement but, as our son has gotten older, we've seen the value in having a space that is dedicated to hanging out with friends. The hubs and I have also gotten older and see the value in a space that is soundproofed to accommodate the younger generation. lol
So, we started talking about what a potential basement renovation would look like about two years ago. In talking and dreaming about the space, I just kept coming back to the fact that I didn't want to renovate the basement cheaply. I wanted to improve the space. I wanted the space to feel as much like an extension of the upstairs as it could and I wanted it to have as much natural light as possible.
Before photo of small basement window with metal window well
I knew from past experience, that enlarging windows in our house was something we all felt was one of the best renovation decisions we've ever made. So, in thinking about the basement renovation, getting more natural light was a priority and that's when I started researching egress windows for basements.
Unfortunately, our basement has low ceilings. At just over 7', there was no way we could improve the ceiling height. But, I thought that we could make the basement not feel like a dungeon by enlarging our basement windows on each side of our space.
During our kitchen remodel, we decided to splurge and upgrade the kitchen window. We went from a window that spanned the kitchen sink (36" or so) to one that was just over 60" wide.
Honestly, I think that was one of the best changes that we've made in our house to this day. The natural light that the new window adds in there is just stunning. So, in thinking about the basement, I just kept coming back to wanting to add large windows; specifically, egress windows (for looks and resale).
So, spoiler, after lots of research and bids, we decided to have large basement windows installed. I'll show you some pictures and then give you the nitty-gritty details including the process and pricing.
Construction process of adding egress windows for basement
After photo of basement egress windows
I realize that those three photos of our basement are a little hard to piece through because they are taken at different angles and with different room set-ups. We did a lot of construction in the basement, so you'll just have to take my word on how big of a difference the egress windows made.
What is an Egress Window?
Most often, egress windows are in a basement. They basically serve as a basement escape window in case of an emergency. Egress window codes differ by location, so you will definitely want to check your local codes to determine what exactly counts as an egress window in your location.
Now that I've shared more about the basement egress window definition, let me share my definition of what the window would actually be.
Honestly, no one is living in our basement. It did have a bedroom down there but we took it out (but have the wiring, supports to add one wall back in later down the line when we sell... more on this in a later post!). To us, the cost of adding egress windows just to have windows that can be climbed out of in an emergency doesn't add up because no one will be sleeping down there. BUT, when you figure in how happy we are with the larger window in the kitchen and all the sunlight that it lets in, combined with the fact that egress windows will be good for resale... that's what tipped the scale for us.
Egress Window Kits Or Window Wells
Ok, so let's talk about what options we had. You can buy egress window kits or window wells that are decorative. Menards sells quite a few options. I went in store to look at the window wells and didn't love them but didn't hate them either. Honestly, I felt like they looked a tad cheap for our specific lot and neighborhood.
You see a lot of window wells that are steel, but there are other options on the market that are prefabricated window wells. Here's a few so you can see:
Custom Window Well With Stacked Stone
Back to our house... When it comes to renovating, I think you absolutely need to take into account what your house and neighborhood looks like when you are making decisions on finishes. Our yard has stacked stone around most of the landscaping beds, trees and driveway. The egress window wells that are pre-made just can't mimic what real stone looks like. That being said, if I had a yard that was less landscaped, I might have considered a store-bought window well.
So, pretty fast in my research, I knew that I didn't want an egress window kit and that a DIY egress window was out of the question for this DIYer.
After researching more about how the egress window installation goes: cutting into our foundation, putting in French drains for drainage and building a wall - all to code. It was just outside of our comfort zone. Like, way outside our comfort zone.
So, as you can tell... I'm not going to give you a tutorial for installing an egress window but I will share how the basement window installation actually went down with our contractors.
Process of enlarging a basement window to an basement egress window
Installing an Egress Window
- Have a company come out to mark electrical lines
- Get permit
- Use an excavation company to dig a trench along the area where you are having the egress window installed
- Excavation company will make sure egress window drainage flows away from the house using French drains
- At this time, your foundation will be exposed so check for waterproofing or any other issues
- Cut foundation for windows
- Add header for windows
- Install windows
- Frame out windows on the exteriors
- Add rock to bottom of the window well
- Install river rock in window well and mortar
- Backfill dirt to the window well
- Regrade side of the yard for water drainage
- Reseed yard
- Frame out windows on the interior (we skipped this part because we can DIY and we wanted to save money)
Basement Egress Window Cost
We paid just over $16,000 to have two basement windows put in and all of the work above done. We didn't go with the cheapest bid ($13K) and we didn't go with the most expensive bid ($45K). I will say that in our bidding process, we were originally thinking about just staying with the width of the original basement windows but going deeper so they could actually work as egress, but after looking at the cost difference to majorly enlarge the windows... we decided that it would be silly to not just go as large as we could.
A big portion of the $16k was the excavation and stone work for the size of the window wells. If you went with more of a standard window well kit and size, then you could probably cut this cost in half. For reference, the windows that we put in are 60" x 36".
Jess from Bright Green Door did a window well unit and some parts of the install were DIY and her price came to around $10,000. When I was crowd-sourcing on Instagram last year for anyone who had done this project and was willing to share the cost, a few people shared that it was around the $5K mark. I knew ours wouldn't be super low because, again, I wanted the rock ledges and to go as big as I could go. But, hopefully, by hearing these numbers, it gives you an idea of what your price could/should be.
What about a window well cover?
A few people have asked me if we needed a window well cover on our egress window and if we've had animals fall into our egress window. In our area, we don't have to have a window well cover but you will have to check local codes to determine if you'd need one. If you decided to go with a custom window well like we did, then you'd also have to find a fabricator to make a window well custom to match.
I did some looking on options for egress window covers and found a few that you might want to check out:
- Clear sloped egress window cover (custom sizing available)
- Steel grate window well cover (custom sizing available)
Egress Window Installation
All about having egress windows installed in our finished basement. Sharing the process of having tiny basement windows and having them enlarged to be large basement egress windows, having a custom stacked stone window well and more!
WHAT IS AN EGRESS WINDOW?
Most often, egress windows are in a basement. They basically serve as a basement escape window in case of an emergency. Egress window codes differ by location, so you will definitely want to check your local codes to determine what exactly counts as an egress window in your location.
Materials
- Gravel
- Sand
- Window
- Caulk
- Weatherproofing
- 2x4's
Tools
- Excavation tools
- Shovel
- Drains
- Saw to cut cement
- Hammer drill
- Level
Instructions
- Have a company come out to mark electrical lines
- Get permit
- Use an excavation company to dig a trench along the area where you are having the egress window installed.
- Excavation company will make sure egress window drainage flows away from the house using French drains.
- At this time, your foundation will be exposed so check for waterproofing or any other issues.
- Cut foundation for windows
- Add header for basement windows
- Install egress windows
- Frame out egress windows on the exteriors
- Add rock to bottom of the window well
- Install river rock in window well and mortar
- Backfill dirt to the window well
- Regrade side of the yard for water drainage
- Reseed yard
- Frame out windows on the interior (we skipped this part because we can DIY and we wanted to save money)
Notes
BASEMENT EGRESS WINDOW COST
We paid just over $16,000 to have two basement windows put in and all of the work above done. We didn’t go with the cheapest bid ($13K) and we didn’t go with the most expensive bid ($45K). I will say that in our bidding process, we were originally thinking about just staying with the width of the original basement windows but going deeper so they could actually work as egress, but after looking at the cost difference to majorly enlarge the windows… we decided that it would be silly to not just go as large as we could.
A big portion of the $16k was the excavation and stone work for the size of the window wells. If you went with more of a standard window well kit and size, then you could probably cut this cost in half. For reference, the windows that we put in are 60″ x 36″.
So, curious to hear your thoughts on egress windows! Or even, just enlarging windows in general. Have you went through a similar process?
p.s. See more basement renovation projects such as: Asbestos Removal and Abatement, Cost to Hire Drywall Installation, How to Cut a Rug to Resize It and Low Ceiling Lighting Options.
Pat Watters
Were you concerned about an increased potential for break-ins through the windows? A neighborhood a few towns over has these for townhouses (but covered with grates) and the owners are now torn between keeping them free and open to use the space as a bedroom or locking up the grill.
Ashley Mayes
Hi,
We aren't. We live in a very quiet neighborhood and our house is pretty far off the street.
Benny
You got ripped off I am really sorry to say. Codes are easy to follow connection to drain tile is as easy as connecting normal plumbing. Labor 2000 dollars material for good window and fancy well, probably another 2800. I paid 4900 for mine and my contractor used a cheap well. He got me good on labor charges if I were to put another one in I'd hire a guy for a thousand to cut the opening and digging.. seriously it's just digging. So if you are a strong healthy person you and your wife could probably knock this out for about 2800 dollars in material, permits, and a guy to cut it with a big azz cement saw. Or if your feeling lucky you can rent one.
Seth's Services LLC
you've obviously never done anything in the field of construction or landscaping. 16k was a good price to have a PRO (which given the quality of the work done they picked a good one) handle all the the headaches of such a project. when renovating and especially excavation if you don't know what your doing you can easily damage something or forget to do something that would cause a future event that could cost you a lot more then the mabey 8k you would save by DIYing it. but you go ahead and grab up a shovel and start lmk how that goes for you then go see how much work it is to get 5 yards of peagravel in your what minivan? and into those holes and french drain you just spent 2 weeks digging
Joseph Schaeffer
What size are the windows you used? I like how they are wider than taller.
Ashley Mayes
60x36
Thanks!
CE
What style did you use and ehat Brand? Looks like a slider. But could be casement or french casement. Working on the same project.
Ashley Mayes
It's an Anderson slider. We have a casement in our kitchen and love it but didn't feel like we would get the use out of it in the basement.
Tiffany
This post was so helpful. Thanks for walking me through your process! I have dreams of enlarging my basement windows too!
Ashley Mayes
Thanks for the feedback! We really love how ours turned out. Hope you get to get them sometime as well.
Karina Infante
Superb!! I’m a realtor and constantly tell my clients about this, especially when they say they want to put a bedroom in the basement!! Thank you for breaking down the steps and sharing costs. -Karina
Ashley Mayes
Of course!
CC
It looks amazing. Could you show us how it looks from the outside? I love your description of saying you went with a stone for the window wells.
Ashley Mayes
Hi.
In the video in the post, it shows how it looks from the outside. I need to do some updated exterior photos now that the grass is turning green agai
Amber Polk
Using what is typically a recipe print for a project is awesome and I wish I would have thought of it myself! Thank you for the tips and it looks great.
Ashley Mayes
Haha, yes! It's the create plug in for how-to tutorials from Mediavine! I'd recommend it for sure. It helps with Google rankings. =)
Leah
I’d love to do this in my basement. What kind of contractor does this work? I do t know where to start.
Ashley Mayes
Hi,
That was the tricky part for SURE! And, it's not that common around here which made it challenging. I'd start by googling egress window installation in your area (bigger metro areas do have these services) but then, reach out directly to your window companies to ask for a list of contractors who might do this (I found my guy through the Pella rep!).
Daniel
Do you have the specifics of the Anderson Slider? Did you buy it from a chain store (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards)??
Ashley Mayes
Hi,
Our contractor bought it for us. I think he used Meeks though.
Zachary Tomlinson
It's amazing how egress windows give your basement a window where light passes through. I have a friend who wants to try owning a new home and creating the ultimate entertainment space around its basement. I will be sure to recommend this to him so we can find an egress window installation expert someday. https://holeinthewallegress.com/egress-window