A window well that holds water after every storm is not just annoying — it is a leak waiting to happen. Water sitting against a basement window will find the weakest seal eventually, and in a Calgary winter it freezes and works on that seal harder. Here are the six usual causes, roughly in the order you should check them.

1. Grading that slopes toward the house

The most common cause and the cheapest fix. Soil settles over the years, and a lawn that once shed water toward the yard ends up feeding the foundation instead. Stand at the well during a downpour and watch where the water runs. You want the ground dropping roughly an inch per foot for the first six feet away from the wall.

2. Downspouts emptying beside the well

A single downspout can move an astonishing amount of water off a roof. If one discharges within a couple of metres of a window well, extend it. Six feet of downspout extension is a cheap fix for a problem people spend thousands on.

3. No gravel bed, or a clogged one

A window well is not supposed to be a bucket — it is supposed to drain. Underneath there should be 8 to 12 inches of clean 3/4″ gravel, ideally over filter fabric, letting water percolate down toward the weeping tile at the footing.

Test it: pour a few litres of water in. If it disappears within a minute or two, drainage is fine and your problem is somewhere else on this list. If it pools, the gravel is either missing or silted up with fines and needs digging out and replacing. Fabric over the gravel is what stops that silting happening again.

4. The well is too shallow for the window

The bottom of the well should sit below the window sill, not level with it, so that the drainage layer lives beneath the window rather than beside it. If your well bottoms out at sill height, water has nowhere to go but against the glass. This one usually needs a taller well and a deeper excavation — our sizing guide covers how to measure for it.

5. No cover

An uncovered well catches rain and snow directly, plus leaves that rot down into the fines that clog your gravel. A cover deals with all of that at once, and keeps kids, pets and wildlife out of the well. If the window is a bedroom egress window, make sure the cover lifts off from inside without tools — see choosing a cover.

6. A rusted-through or bowed well

Older wells rust out at the bottom, exactly where they sit in wet gravel, and soil pressure bows the sides inward until the well no longer seals against the foundation. At that point water runs behind the well rather than into it, which is worse — it is going straight down the foundation wall unseen.

Replacement is the fix. G-90 galvanized or powder coated wells resist this far better than older uncoated steel, and our installation guide walks through the swap.

Work top down

Fix grading and downspouts first, because they are cheap and they solve most cases. Only dig once you have ruled them out. And if water is already coming through the window, deal with it before winter — freeze-thaw turns a small leak into a large one.

Need a replacement well sized to your opening? Call (403) 972-0988 or email info@windowwellsandcover.ca. We roll them in Calgary and stock sizes ship in 1–2 business days.