I wanted to pose a question to get some collective wisdom. My house was finished about 6 months ago, and I have several window wells. One is a 6' deep for egress window, others regular basement windows.

At the time of the build, I had asked the builder about installing drains, but he assured me that he never installs them and it's never a problem because the put down lots of gravel into the base of the well.

With the huge storm we had, one of the window wells filled with water, and started to leak through the window, and into the (finished) basement. I'm not sure how long it was going on, but I think I caught it within a few hours of it starting. Sheetrock feels dry, but I don't know what's behind it, and the carpet by the window is damp (but not soaked). The well had a well cover, though not air tight, I'm not sure why this one window well ended up with a few inches of standing water.

My question to all of you, am I being unreasonable in expecting the builder to fix the wells by adding drainage? I realize this is probably not something that can be done before ground thaws, but nonetheless? The builder has generally been very flexible and good to work with, and has stood up behind his product in other areas. Because he's been so good, I want to be particularly sure I'm not going to be asking for something that would be entirely unreasonable. Also, in a situation like that who is responsible for interior damage? (i.e. carpet and drywall?)

Any ideas of what could be done in the meantime (snow is about to start melting)? I can see digging out the gravel, trying to dig out a few inches of dirt to make the well deeper, and putting the rock back in but leaving a few inches between top of the rock and bottom of the window. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!