Getting Started
When Egress, Inc. gets the go-ahead on your job, we do a number of things right away: we produce an architectural drawing of your space showing the proposed window modification for city and county approval, as well as fill out the necessary paperwork to pull the permit as the contractor of record. When required by cities or counties, or by a structural condition on your home, we provide the engineering, arrange for a site visit by a licensed engineer and communicate with him/her as to the most cost-effective and safe way to modify the foundation of your home. Then we order the windows, wells, ladders, covers, and utility locates so your job can be completed as efficiently as possible. Most of our jobs (not including excavation) are completed in a day, and your house is never open and exposed to the weather, except during the actual installation of the window itself.
Excavation
We excavate for your future area well by hand – picks, shovels, wheel barrels, and lots of muscle. We’ll load our trailer with all the excess dirt (and there is a lot!) and haul it off to the dump. We place tarps on the ground and then place the dirt that we will be using for backfilling on those tarps to minimize disrupting or damaging any of your landscaping. We have found this to be the only reliable way to keep a very dirty job as neat and clean as possible.
Cutting & Installation
We schedule the cutting and installation of your egress window(s) as soon after the excavation as possible, with the anticipation of potential delays from weather or surprises that we may find buried beside some home foundations. To protect your interior, we cover them with carpet masks and drop cloths from the point where we enter your home, right up to the area where we are working. The concrete is typically cut from the outside. This process is wet and noisy, but not dusty. Most of the mess stays outside and the remainder is contained by our carpet and surface protection. The concrete is then pushed out, broken up, and loaded onto our trailer. The window well is set, backfilled, and properly graded to avoid water intrusion. Click here for more information about window well options.
Final Touches
We install your ladder, fresh gravel in the base of the well, then sweep, rake and place any remaining dirt on our trailers. We install your window, insulate it (if the room permits (delete red), seal it, trim it on the exterior with a maintenance-free vinyl or cement board. Often we will trim the interior, when contracted to do so, with paint or stain grade wood to match the existing wall. If you have ordered a cover, we can often install them on the same day. Some covers need to be templated once the well is in, then custom made and installed at a later date. Click here to learn more about window well cover options.
Inspection
Upon completion of the job, an inspection by a city or county building official will be scheduled. We can arrange a day according to your schedule and will receive a window of time when the inspector will be there on that day. The inspection itself just takes a few minutes. No worries – inspectors love our work!
When Egress, Inc. gets the go-ahead on your job, we do a number of things right away: we produce an architectural drawing of your space showing the proposed window modification for city and county approval, as well as fill out the necessary paperwork to pull the permit as the contractor of record. When required by cities or counties, or by a structural condition on your home, we provide the engineering, arrange for a site visit by a licensed engineer and communicate with him/her as to the most cost-effective and safe way to modify the foundation of your home. Then we order the windows, wells, ladders, covers, and utility locates so your job can be completed as efficiently as possible. Most of our jobs (not including excavation) are completed in a day, and your house is never open and exposed to the weather, except during the actual installation of the window itself.
Excavation
We excavate for your future area well by hand – picks, shovels, wheel barrels, and lots of muscle. We’ll load our trailer with all the excess dirt (and there is a lot!) and haul it off to the dump. We place tarps on the ground and then place the dirt that we will be using for backfilling on those tarps to minimize disrupting or damaging any of your landscaping. We have found this to be the only reliable way to keep a very dirty job as neat and clean as possible.
Cutting & Installation
We schedule the cutting and installation of your egress window(s) as soon after the excavation as possible, with the anticipation of potential delays from weather or surprises that we may find buried beside some home foundations. To protect your interior, we cover them with carpet masks and drop cloths from the point where we enter your home, right up to the area where we are working. The concrete is typically cut from the outside. This process is wet and noisy, but not dusty. Most of the mess stays outside and the remainder is contained by our carpet and surface protection. The concrete is then pushed out, broken up, and loaded onto our trailer. The window well is set, backfilled, and properly graded to avoid water intrusion. Click here for more information about window well options.
Final Touches
We install your ladder, fresh gravel in the base of the well, then sweep, rake and place any remaining dirt on our trailers. We install your window, insulate it (if the room permits (delete red), seal it, trim it on the exterior with a maintenance-free vinyl or cement board. Often we will trim the interior, when contracted to do so, with paint or stain grade wood to match the existing wall. If you have ordered a cover, we can often install them on the same day. Some covers need to be templated once the well is in, then custom made and installed at a later date. Click here to learn more about window well cover options.
Inspection
Upon completion of the job, an inspection by a city or county building official will be scheduled. We can arrange a day according to your schedule and will receive a window of time when the inspector will be there on that day. The inspection itself just takes a few minutes. No worries – inspectors love our work!
WHAT TO EXPECT
