Bilco ScapeWEL and terraced composite wells: what they cost installed here

Terraced composite wells are the answer to the two complaints people have about a standard corrugated well: it looks like a pit from inside the room, and a bolt-on ladder is an unpleasant thing to climb in an emergency. A molded well with wide built-in steps fixes both, and in our soils it also removes the rust clock entirely. It costs more, and whether that is worth it depends on how long you intend to own the house.

What you are buying

A one-piece or two-piece molded well with terraced steps formed into the body, anchored to the foundation, sized so the well meets the code minimums: at least 9 square feet of horizontal area, at least 36 inches of projection from the wall, and a compliant means of climbing out for wells deeper than 44 inches. Because the steps are part of the well rather than bolted into it, there is nothing to corrode loose and nothing that can be removed by a previous owner who found it inconvenient.

From inside, the difference is not cosmetic. A terraced well brings noticeably more daylight into a basement room than a deep narrow corrugated well, which matters when the whole point of the project was to make a basement bedroom feel like a bedroom.

The Sioux Falls case for and against

For. Galvanized steel wells in our clay-heavy glacial till rust at the soil line on a 25 to 35 year schedule, which is precisely why so many 1990s wells in Brandon, Harrisburg, and Tea are failing right now. Composite has no such schedule. Our basements are also deep, because footings go below a roughly 42-inch frost depth, so a code ladder is required on most wells here and integrated terraces are simply a better version of that requirement.

Against. The well is not what fails first in most cases. Drainage is. A composite well set over the same silted clay that killed the last well will hold water exactly the same way, because the material of the wall has nothing to do with where the water goes. If a budget forces a choice between a premium well and a proper gravel drainage column with an outlet, take the drainage every time. We would rather install a galvanized well over a genuinely good bed than a beautiful well over clay.

Cost, honestly

Every one of these sits inside the published pricing ranges, and permits of $150–$600 are itemized separately at cost.

Covers and snow

Terraced wells are wide, which is the point, and a wide well collects a lot of snow. A fitted cover is worth more on this well type than on any other, both for the drifting and because the terraces are what you would be standing on to climb out. Cheap thin flat panels crack under February snow load on a well this size; a heavier or sloped cover is the right specification. The cover page covers the code requirement that any cover over an egress well be releasable from inside without tools.

Get a number for your house

The window well calculator prices steel and composite side by side against your own depth and drainage situation, and the on-site measure is free. We install across Sioux Falls, Brandon, Tea, Harrisburg, Hartford, Dell Rapids, Lennox, and Canton.