Brick or cement window well, footings

[Ivan]

I'm going to be enlarging two basement windows by the depth of one cement block. Rather than just installing one of those metallic window wells, I want to build the walls from something a little more appealing. My first choice is brick or stone. Maybe concrete or treated wood. I may even cover the window well with a polycarbonate green house material. I live in an area that does get extremely cold and deep frost, Saskatchewan Canada. However my soil is very sandy. I'm wondering what kind of a footing to provide for the walls of the well, and how far down. I'm also assuming I should provide adequate drainage in the bottom of the opening, but not sure how to go about it. Ivan

[Tom Baker]

Ivan, It would be nice to use the same material as the existing foundation wall.

I think it would be best to tie the new work to the existing. This would help keep the walls from settling away from the house. This would make the well walls cantilever from the foundation wall. It would be a semicircular beam tied to the house at each end.

With sandy soil, I'd leave the bottom of the well open and let it drain. You might want to dig down and add crushed stone to help.

I would pay a structural engineer to specify reinforcing and anchorage. That would be cheap insurance.

The BIA (Brick Industry Association) web site has info on brick beams. I'd still use an engineer.

The greenhouse sounds like a great idea if the well is of any size. It would help insulate the wall exposed in the well.

Tom Baker