Egress Window Installation in New Jersey

Solutions

A legal, safe, and dry egress window — the whole job, done once

New Jersey’s building code is clear: any basement room used for sleeping needs an emergency escape and rescue opening — an egress window. It’s a life-safety requirement, not a formality, and it’s what makes a finished basement bedroom, in-law suite or legal rental count as real living space. But an egress well is also a hole dug against your foundation, so if the drainage isn’t done right it becomes one of the most common leak points in the house. RDC does the full job so you get both: code compliance and a dry basement.

After a free inspection, RDC delivers:

• Code-compliant egress window & opening: a window that meets New Jersey’s minimum clear opening, sill height and operability requirements so the room legally qualifies as a bedroom.
• Precise foundation cutting: the opening is cut cleanly in poured concrete or block with the header and framing detailed to keep the wall sound.
• Sealed, drained window well: a corrugated or terraced well anchored to the foundation with a well drain at the base — the detail that separates a dry well from a leaking one.
• Drainage tie-in: the well drain routed into a gravel bed or your interior drainage and sump so rainwater never pools against the glass.
• Waterproofed opening & well cover: the perimeter sealed and a clear, code-approved cover added to shed rain and leaves while still allowing escape.

If cutting the opening means working around structural cracks or a bowing wall, we address that first — see foundation repair. And because a below-grade well is a prime entry point for water, egress work and waterproofing belong together.

What to know

Why egress wells leak in New Jersey — and how we prevent it

An egress well is dug into the soil right against your foundation, which in New Jersey means dense clay that holds water and a high water table that keeps the ground wet. When a well is installed without a working drain, every nor’easter and spring thaw fills it like a bucket — and the water sits against the window until it finds a way in. Leaks trace to four avoidable mistakes:

• No well drain: the single most common cause — a well with nowhere for water to go becomes a reservoir against the glass.
• Drain not tied to drainage: a drain that dead-ends in clay instead of connecting to gravel or the sump backs up under pressure.
• Poor grading around the well: soil that slopes toward the well funnels surface water straight into it — see yard drainage.
• Unsealed opening & no cover: a gap where the well meets the foundation, or an open well collecting rain and debris, lets water in at the frame.

RDC installs the window and the water management as one job, so the well drains, the opening is sealed, and the grade sheds water away. Our reviewers regularly mention that we thought about the drainage the last contractor forgot — which is exactly why their well leaked.