Clean out those window wells!!

Glad you didn't have any significant damage.

JH, I am sorry for your leakage incident.  Where in Pennsylvania do you live?  I am in central PA, and there's no red clay here.  I can't get any sense of scale from your attached photo.  How deep is that well?  Our basement window wells are only about two feet deep.

I've seen the water over half way up the glass.  The key is to keep the water away from the window well.  The well's drain is the last defense.

Jan

BALSHIS: I am in 16875 Centre Hall area and we have LOTS of clay here and currently lots of water!

I live halfway between York and Harrisburg on the west side of the Susquehanna. The bottom of that window well is about 5 1/2 feet below grade.

I saw the footage from Hershey yesterday. Hope it doesn't get worse.

glad to hear that at least the damage was minor.

Bob

Jan posted:

I've seen the water over half way up the glass.  The key is to keep the water away from the window well.  The well's drain is the last defense.

Jan

Pretty hard to keep the rain away from the wells with the volume of rain we've been having here in Baltimore. Years ago I made custom 3/16" thick plexiglass covers to fit over the well lip.  The wells now stay perfectly dry.

Some places sell plastic covers for those, but you have to find one that fits sort of.  Also helps to not have overflowing gutters..  That is sometimes my problem.

The big box stores (Lowes and HD) make plastic covers for the wells and they do a pretty good job of keeping most of the rain water out.

https://www.lowes.com/pl/Windo...ows-doors/4294809479

I use the Macourt one for $9.98. It gets hard and brittle after 4-5 years but, at that price, I can afford to replace it every few years. I attach it to the siding with a couple small screws and cover the bottom edge with soil to keep it weighted in place.

Like Dennis said, you just have to find one that matches up to the dimensions of your window well. 

I have plastic window well covers on all my basement window wells. They work fine, but were expensive because I had to special order them due to their size(s). Have a couple of extra well covers because they screwed-up my order and sent more than I ordered or paid for. The seller said to just keep them rather than try to send them back.

I also use a shop vac a couple of times a year to keep any stray leaves or other debris out of the window wells, even though the well covers do a pretty good job (mine are not attached to the house, but rest up against the brickwork).

Having been built in the mid-50s, there is no emergency egress from the basement through the windows although one deep window could be converted to that purpose. I had all the train room windows converted to glass block, and am very happy with the result.

4 yr old toddler for scale 

  Mine drain fine (Mi) but toads still hide from the sun & breed in them under the gravel. They dig themselves out of the gravel, then eat the bugs also seeking shade, so they arent pests, no smell and they jump out as they get bigger.

Only about 3ft deep

Red clay: You guys need to visit Alabama where they carved roads into solid hills of it. Talk about slippery when wet

Speaking of rain, the weather pattern we're presently in will fray some nerves pretty soon.  And I hear all next week will be the same.....

jhz563 posted:

Living in PA or anywhere that basements are the norm is great for model railroaders.  But in the drenching continuous rains we are having there are some perils.  A modern basement will come with an emergency egress window to pass modern building codes,  and the well around that window should have a ladder to get out.  What is also important is that the bottom of that egress well stay clean - all gravel from 18” thru 6” below the bottom of the window sill.  Mine had gotten filled up to flush with the sill with dirt that washed in.  Not just any dirt, but nearly impervious PA red clay.  The water got in the well but couldn’t get out.  Fortunately all I lost was some carpet and a few Cardboard  boxes, but it could have been much worse!!  Now the muck is cleaned out and the water goes away.  

Protect your trains - clean out those window wells!!

Ah, more rain ?  Wife and I are house-hunting in the Central Susquehanna Valley next weekend, guess it will be a good time to check basement integrity.

jhz563 posted:

4 yr old toddler for scale 

Did that 4 yr. old catch that shark swimming in the window well?