4" - 6".

Do you have a perforated pipe connecting to your drain tile below? Different people do this differently: Soil stops at window well bottom - 12"; gravel 6". Perforated pile connected to your tile.

If tile is not draining it may have been crushed, or soil / leafs / debris entered the well and pluged the drain. Best way to troubleshoot is to run a water hose. Water should never reach the bottom of the window level.

Here's a diagram from the National Research Council of Canada Performance Guidelines on Basement Envelope Systems and Materials:

Unless the soil is highly permeable, it's best to fill the void down to the footer drains with granular material. I use sand.

Mine is quite large and deep as it is the emergency egress from the basement. The whole thing is cement with 2 large drains at the bottom that tie into drainage and a sump pump. It was built 8 years ago and we have not had a single drop of water in the basement. My GC is fanatical with waterproofing and drainage when building basements. We don't get huge amounts of rain in So. CA, but when we get it, we get a large amount in a short time, which will quickly overwhelm a poorly designed basement.

…. and then where does the water go once it heads down the pipe? is it pumped out or ?

A clear cover may be appropriate; check with local codes.

Water was literally flowing through the window and just under the window but maining flowing through the window.

Soil is mainly sand, loam with patches of clay.

The county land and water conservation lists my land as "excessive draining capacity".

It was raining again when I got home so I couldn't check for a drain quite yet. If there is a drain it will tie into the form a drain tile which flows to the sump pump - rarely goes off.

Since its such a short window well (24") and the same height as the window - my theory is that the water in the saturated soil is following the path of least resistance and going under the well into the gravel then just filling up the window well. Same phenomon as sand wicking water from clay.

Last night 2" fell in 2 hours. I went out there during the downpour and there wasn't any standing water around the well nor was the gutter or downspout exit overflowing. The water flowing through the winow the entire 2 hours.

Worthy,

What height window well do you specify as it correlates to the window height?

Kate,

Sorry to hear that! I'll check out your post.

BT,

What reference is the 12"? As I understand your explanation - the curatated winow well is sitting on the soil then backfilled with gravel at least 4 to 6". If you have any reference images that would help.

Where do you live? I’m in WI, I’m curious because of how much rain you got and if we have similar building codes. Heck, what if we had the same builder?!

I'm NW of Milwaukee. We'd have the same building codes but I doubt there is anything that governs the window wells. I plan to call the inspector to see he can offer any guidance.

I'm actually in a tough spot as the Ecavator had an amatuer backfill and grade - the grade was WAY too high so a different guy came in to redo but it still ended up too high in my opinon.

Otherwise I'd simply add a cover and increase the grade/slope but I'm topped out just below the siding.

Unless I find a clogged drain - I have a feeling I need to remove the current window well - get a taller one so I can lower the level of the gravel as its almost the same level as the winow. If I lower the gravel level fill will just come under the window well.

Now that I'm looking into this its quite annoying that I need to deal with the poor design/install and try to educate myself on the proper method.

Have you contacted the builder regarding the water entering the house? There is a chance they may be able to help regardless of the warranty.

Sure did - they passed me on to the foundation contractor who would have installed the drain if there is one.

Overall they are a solid builder and really had no problems. I'm going to see how the conversation goes with the fondation contractor before having further dialog with the builder.

Hoping someone steps up as there is no reason to have that much water flowing through a window well of a new house. Too many red flags with the design now that I'm educating myself - ie gravel was at the level of the bottom of the window. Every single source I've encountered states the gravel must be sufficently below the level of the window which is quite logical.

That is all new framing and elecrial too - luckly I followed the sealing guildlines of building science so the water stayed in the one room as it couldn't flow under the plates

Wow, you can see the stream of water in your photo!

Sorry you are having to deal with this. Water issues are never easy.

Sure can - I wasn't exaggerting with the 50 gallons of water!

Here are some pics that showcase the epic grading failure. Note the height of the window well before grading as it relates to the native grade with the top soil stripped off. This also tells me there likely isn't a drain?

Couldn't get my browser to work on the computer storing the pics so I needed to take a pic of the screen.

What height window well do you specify as it correlates to the window height?

The metal well should be deep enough to surround the gravel layer and affixed to the foundation wall and caulked. Gravel would start 4"-6" below the bottom of the window.

I think you've pinpointed the problem.

Your pic clearly shows no drain down to the weeping tile (presuming it's there under the gravel). Of course, 50 mm in two hours is a tremendous amount of rainfall, but is not out of line with the reporting.

Properly done window well fails after 40 years.

Even properly done window wells can eventually fail as the downpipe clogs from debris and the footer drains themselves settle irregularly and fill with roots and soil.

My x employer wanted soil to come up to 12" below the the window opening (buck). Followed by 6" gravel. This way you will see about 6" of water before it will start coming in inside of your basement. Like worthy said window well will fail eventually. The goal is to see it immediately.

At this point I need to get a taller corrgated well.

Of course a window well at the same height as the window with gravel up the window level is going to flood during a major storm escpeically when its in the upper 20" of soil.

I addtion I'll need to check if the gravel level goes lower than the corragated well. The more porous materal will wick water away from the surrounding soil otherwise.

Since I have fairly well draining soil I'm assuming I can set the new taller well on top of the soil - ensuring its 12" below the winow. Then fill with 6" gravel so the gravel level is 6" below window.

Sound like a plan?

More granular material in the well--right down to the footing drain--will always help.

But If you're setting the top of the gravel in the window well 12" below the bottom of the window, you may not have sufficient slope in the surrounding soil . Your picture before final grading doesn't seem to show much of a slope as it is.

As per the isometric diagram below, the pipe in the window well should be connected to the footer drain. Your picture above shows no such pipe.

Source: National Research Council of Canada

As mentioned earlier, a clear plastic cover on the well would be a good idea too.

Worthy,

Here is what I came up with - which I believe aligns with the ISO view you posted above.

The only difference is that there isn't a drain. Is the soil level dipicted correct? Based on my experience with how water moves through soil either its needs to be as outlined or as you stated gravel all the way down.

Fondation contractor called me back and plans to pound a PVC pipe down to the gravel at the footing and install a drain - said its the best solution at this point. I talked to him about the concept above and he agreed to review before putting the drain in. I told him I just didn't want him to put in the drian pipel then I go lowering the gravel 6". Not clear whose responsbiliy it is to replace the window well given it forces the gravel to be at the level of the window.

The pic above isn't finish grade. That is before finish grade believe it or not!

A different guy had to come in and knock that down almost 2 feet then put 6-8" of native topsoil down.