Basement Window

Because of its incredible properties, glass is used for windows and walls. There are varieties of glass employed for domestic construction application. Glass is a strong material and allows you to decide the amount of incoming light that you would like. Transparent glass allows almost all the light to enter the premises, whereas frosted glass restricts the light and thus offers better privacy. Glass blocks make a popular and practical option for being used in basement windows. The features that make them such an ideal choice are: light, thermal, sound and ventilation.

Glass Blocks – Let there be light!

Depending upon the quality of glass used, glass bricks let in a lot of light. You have a choice there to decide the amount of light entering. Colored glass, for instance will make the incoming light colored whereas frosted blocks make it difficult to exactly figure out the objects near to the window, thus adding to the level of privacy.

This is especially significant for basement windows. You also get patterned glass bricks. These also change the way of light entering the premises. It will be worthwhile to look for the available varieties of glass bricks and decide the one that suits your requirements of light entering the premises.

Hot Or Cold!

The thermal characteristics of glass blocks are quite similar and comparable to those of double glazed windows, meaning they help maintaining the room temperature in all weathers. So, in winters the hot air inside is retained without letting in any cold outdoors air and in summers they can retain the inside cold air by not allowing the outside hot air to enter. That enables one to cut down on power bills.

Keep the Noise Down!

Glass bricks are helpful for cutting down noise entering your place. You won’t get unduly disturbed by the traffic passing by the street or even if youngsters in the neighborhood decide to party with drinks and music.

Ventilation

One of the most helpful features of glass bricks is the use of specialty blocks to facilitate ventilation. Specially designed air vents are used to ensure a constant flow of air but creepers are left out from entering inside. The opening of these vents can be adjusted to suit your requirements and works out to be quite economical if you have them installed at the time of installing windows rather than adding subsequently. Another useful special purpose block has a dryer vent with a hole wherein you can attach your dryer pipe –this may be a permanent feature or there is a cover provided for if the pipe is removed.

Egress means an outlet or an exit, or escape route. So, a basement egress window is essentially an exit or route to escape, normally in case of fire. All this while these windows were small spaces, mainly to let in some amount of sunlight in the basement. The safety codes have undergone many changes, making such windows obsolete. It’s mandatory to have egress windows in any basement, bedroom or living area.

Plans showing a basement as an office or study, but using it as a bedroom after having got the plans approvaed, doesn’t work any longer. Any living space below or at ground level, which is large enough to be used as a bedroom and has a closet, no matter what name you give it, has to have some escape route, including an egress window. This requirement is often fulfilled by putting one in a bedroom that joins a living space.

Often, the installation process of an egress window is quite simple and can be executed within a day. First step is to dig out enough area in front of the window to put in the window. Digging a hole next to the foundation, which is at least 6 inches deeper than the bottom of the window, is helpful. As you require room enough for an adult to come out from the window, approximately 48 inch square area should be cleared out.

Having thus cleared the area in front of the window, you can score concrete and cut a hole where the window will be positioned. After cutting the area, using a 3-pound hammer and a chisel take out the concrete along with any bricks and mortar. A window box frame is built with pressure treated lumber and then pushed into the opening. It is attached by using concrete nails before the window box is pushed into place. This action necessitates handling by two people; one to hold the window box and the other nails it down to the provided place.

Having thus put the window box frame in its place, the area surrounding the window opening is sealed with a high quality caulk. Many a time the demolition process results to having chips and gaps around the edges of the frame; these need to be filled in with premixed mortar. After the area surrounding the window frame is repaired, the trim can be placed. A final run with caulk all over the seams is required for the basement egress window installation.

Finally, it’s time for well and drainage system to be positioned. The window well is already made and you need to put it in place and attach to the house. This is followed by replacing the soil and tamping it down firmly. Make sure to provide a slope away from the house to drain water away from the home. A drainage system should be designed to handle excess water during rainstorms.

The specifications of glass used on standard window are not the same as on these. As egress windows are a below ground level, for security measures stronger glass is used.

Window well and beauty don’t seem to go together, do they? With slight effort and a bit of imagination you can make the two jell for your pleasure, thus justify the time and effort you put in having that window.

Basement window wells are necessarily needed for keeping soil away from excavated windows in home foundations. The most often used variety is made from corrugated metal, and the next most common is concrete. For reasons of safety, the size of window or area wells kept getting bigger as dictated by safety laws of different states. The intention is to provide an exit large enough for escaping in case of fire and allow fire engines to enter the premises.

But such large openings at ground level can prove hazardous on the outside of homes. Children and animals could get tripped and fall into those, getting trapped and injured, posing a challenge to pull them out.

Added to the discomfort, embarrassment and injuries, is the expense of asking for the services of a wildlife expert to pull out the animal and its treatment or the medical bills of restoring the health of an injured traumatized child.

Consider yourself fortunate in having one or more window wells, as you can use the basement as an extension of your living area or for storage or for any other useful purpose, there are many. It also makes way for bringing in natural daylight into your basement.

The other downside to these wells is they are very unsightly. That’s where your imagination, efforts and creativity come to play. You can decorate them with scenic liners or by any other means you like or can work out. Window Well Scenes is the most popular liner product, you may like to check.

Put your basement window assets to best use, it’s not too difficult, and always worth the effort.