Des Moines Window Pros provides professional basement egress windows and window wells in Des Moines, IA for residential and commercial properties across Greater Des Moines. Egress is the single topic here where we tell you to spend first and ask about payback afterwards. An escape opening is a life-safety item and a code item, and it does not compete with attic insulation for the same household dollars in the same way.
The residential code sets the figures and they are not negotiable, so learn them before you shop. Any room used for sleeping requires an emergency escape and rescue opening. Its sill can sit no more than 44 inches up from the finished floor. The hole must give at least 20 inches of net clear width, at least 24 inches of net clear height, and at least 5.7 square feet of net clear area.
Those are three independent minimums, not a formula. Twenty by twenty-four inches satisfies the first two and still falls well short of the area, which is the arithmetic that catches most people out. Openings at grade, or onto a deck or porch, get a smaller area allowance of 5.0 square feet, and that exception does not reach a basement bedroom.
Net clear is measured through the hole you can crawl through, not across the frame. That single point sinks more do-it-yourself basement bedrooms than anything else we see. A thirty-two by forty-eight slider is nothing like a thirty-two by forty-eight opening, because half of it does not move at all and the sash rails and interlock eat into what is left.
Below grade the window is only part of the job. You need a well sized to the sash swing, at least 36 inches of projection from the wall in most cases, a ladder or steps if the well is more than 44 inches deep, a drainage path to daylight or to the footing drain, and a cover that opens from inside without tools.
Cutting the opening is real construction and it should be priced that way. Saw-cutting a poured wall or a block wall for a new egress unit means a lintel or a bond-beam detail, temporary support above the cut, sleeving for the drain line, and a decision about how the well ties into the grade so runoff goes away from the house rather than into it.
Finishing a basement without addressing this is how a project fails inspection at the worst possible moment, after the drywall. If you are planning a basement bedroom, price the egress opening before you price the framing, because the well and the drainage often cost more than the window and they are not optional.
We will also tell you when you already comply, which happens more often than the ads suggest. Plenty of older houses here have wide original basement sash that clear the height, width and area requirements once the storm and screen come off, and in that case you need a well tidy-up and a cover that opens from inside, not a concrete saw.
Our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — dense-pack cellulose and attic top-plate air sealing done ahead of glass, AERC-rated low-e interior and exterior storm panels, warm-edge spacers in replacement insulated glass units, pultruded fiberglass lineals with a glass-matched expansion rate, polyamide thermal struts in commercial aluminum framing, EPA Lead-Safe Certified containment on pre-1978 openings — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Des Moines and nearby communities including West Des Moines, Ankeny, Ames, Urbandale.
What We Handle
Everything our basement egress windows and window wells in Des Moines covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of basement egress windows and window wells work in Des Moines, IA. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- egress windows
- basement egress window
- window well installation
- egress window well ladder
- net clear opening 5.7 square feet
- basement bedroom code
- emergency escape and rescue opening
- egress window cutting
- foundation wall cutting
- window well drainage
- egress window cover
- basement finishing permit
- egress window Des Moines
- sill height 44 inches
- egress window cost
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Des Moines services.
Materials, equipment and how we do basement egress windows and window wells
The difference between basement egress windows and window wells that lasts and basement egress windows and window wells that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with dense-pack cellulose and attic top-plate air sealing done ahead of glass, AERC-rated low-e interior and exterior storm panels, warm-edge spacers in replacement insulated glass units, pultruded fiberglass lineals with a glass-matched expansion rate, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Des Moines job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. Years of window work in Greater Des Moines means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do basement egress windows and window wells outside Des Moines
Des Moines Window Pros covers Des Moines and the surrounding communities of Greater Des Moines. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in West Des Moines, IA — Polk County, population 68,723 at the 2020 census
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in Ankeny, IA — Polk County, population 67,887 at the 2020 census
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in Ames, IA — Story County, population 66,427 at the 2020 census
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in Urbandale, IA — Polk County, population 45,580 at the 2020 census
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in Johnston, IA — Polk County, population 24,064 at the 2020 census
- Basement Egress Windows and Window Wells in Waukee, IA — Dallas County, population 23,940 at the 2020 census
Start on the Des Moines Window Pros homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Des Moines Chooses Des Moines Window Pros
- ✓We price the repair before the replacement, and we will take the smaller job
- ✓Whole-unit NFRC ratings on every quote, never center-of-glass numbers
- ✓Sloped sill pans with back dam and end dams on every opening we set
- ✓Insulated glass unit replacement offered on any sash that is still sound
The standards behind basement egress windows and window wells
Quality here is not a matter of opinion — it is written down. The basement egress windows and window wells work we do in Des Moines follows published industry standards: NFRC sets the U-factor and SHGC ratings on every window label, and ENERGY STAR defines the efficiency thresholds by climate zone. If a contractor cannot tell you which standard a detail comes from, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Every basement egress windows and window wells project in Des Moines gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free basement egress windows and window wells free estimate in Des Moines, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.