Our Bungalow

The windows have added lots of light to the basement and made it seem less basement-like. We are very happy with how they look on the inside:

Before

After

They also look great on the outside:

Before

After

More photos of the process:

A Window in the Hole

A View from the Inside

One Old Window, One New Window

The window wells are made of timbers. We had some bad experiences with timber window wells in our last house and swore we’d never use them again. Wood rots, don’t you know. But we didn’t feel like stone fit this house, and we were convinced that, if installed correctly, timbers could be very durable. These timbers are protected from moisture in the ground by dimpled plastic sheets, gravel, and plastic. They should last a long time.

Plastic Lining and Timbers

We decided to install four new windows in the basement in order to let in more light and make it feel less like a basement. It is (hopefully) the most expensive single thing we’ll do in our basement, but we think it’s well worth it. We had two casement windows and two double-hung windows installed, but they are styled such that they all look like double-hungs and match the mission style of the other main windows in the house. Installing the new windows required digging large window wells and cutting into the foundation. Here we go:

Double Window Well

This next part made me a bit uneasy: