Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Finishing the Basement: Enlarging Window


One of the best ways to make a basement feel less like, a basement, is to bring in more natural sunlight.

Step 1: Dig well & remove old window (after moving a bunch of flowers).

Step 2: Use a concrete saw to cut out larger opening (I highly recommend leaving this step up to the pros).

Feeling more like a finished room already!
Step 3: Frame window & seal cracks with spray foam.

Step 4: Screw window to frame & caulk around the edges.
Step 5: Build window well. We extended the well with cider blocks, put rebar down the holes and into the ground, then filled them with concrete.

Step 6: Fill-in with gravel and soil.

6 comments:

  1. How much did the window replacment project cost? I've heard it can cost up to 7K to put in an eggress window in a basement.

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  2. It cost $300 to have the concrete cut (we had them break up the concrete but we saved some $ by hauling it away ourselves). My husband dug-out and built the window-well (supplies, around $150). We bought the window at Lowes for around $350 (plus we got a tax credit). We also installed the window ourselves. A window company quoted us over $3,000 to do the whole thing. I think we spent around $800 total.

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  3. Do you have any leaking problems with the window? We wanted to put a door to outside.

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  4. What did you do about drainage? Did you tie into the tile drain around the basement?

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  5. Recently I got new windows for my dad's house, theses were the Salamander 76
    , which are quite gentle for your budget, really...

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  6. Moisture and the bacteria that come with it is a hazard to remodeling of basements. Apply industrial-grade mold remover to all stains. For good measure and to be completely rid of it before basement remodeling begins, scrub all adjacent walls and fixtures with the chemical even if you don't see any telltale discolorations. basementremodelerschicagoil.com

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