Egress Window Wells and Windows in Seward, NE

In Seward, as everywhere we work, an egress well usually fails one of three ways: corrugated steel rusted through at the soil line, a well bowing inward under the backfill, or a well that was never big enough for the bedroom it serves. A window well replacement on an existing opening runs $1,000 to $3,000 on our published price sheet, and the measure that sets the number is free. Here is what replacing a well in Seward involves, and what the new one has to keep.

Seward at a glance, for a well job

Seward is the county seat of Seward County and the largest town in it, part of the Lincoln metropolitan area, with 7,643 residents at the 2020 census. It was platted in 1868 and the railroad came through in 1873. Concordia University is in town and is one of its larger employers, and since 1979 Congress has recognised Seward as “America’s Official Fourth of July City.” None of that changes the code, which is the same here as anywhere else in the state, but the permit office is Seward’s own, not Lincoln’s.

The Big Blue River flows south-southeast through the central part of Seward County and Seward is one of the towns on its course. That matters for a well swap in one specific way, covered below.

What a replacement well has to keep

Replacing a well is not just bolting a new piece of steel where the old one was. If the window behind it is an emergency escape opening for a bedroom, the new well is part of that opening. Nebraska’s statewide building code is the 2018 International Residential Code, and its R310 section sets the rules we build every egress well to:

• Size. The well needs at least 9 square feet of horizontal area, with at least 36 inches of projection out from the foundation and 36 inches of width. Older wells sold as “egress” are sometimes smaller. Matching the old footprint is only correct if the old footprint was legal.
• A way to climb out. Past a certain depth the well needs a permanently attached ladder or steps, and a bolt-on ladder in a narrow well can eat into the required area. The no-ladder page has the rung measurements.
• A cover that opens from inside. Any cover or grate over a bedroom’s escape well has to release from inside without keys, tools, or special knowledge. A screwed-down grate left over from the old well does not go back on. See broken or missing covers.
• The window opening itself. A well swap never shrinks the escape opening. If the window was undersized to begin with, that is the moment to price an opening upgrade instead of rebuilding a well around a window that still fails.

Rust, caving, or too small: which fix

A caving well and a rusted well often turn out to be the same well at different stages, so we check the steel below grade, not just what shows above it.

Permits in Seward

Seward’s permits run through the city’s Building/Inspection and Engineering Department at the Municipal Building, 142 N 7th St, open weekdays 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The department lists its own Building Permit form and, separately, a Floodway Development Permit. For a home anywhere near mapped floodplain along the river, ask the department whether digging out and backfilling a well needs that second permit too before anyone schedules an excavator. For permit questions on any job, the city office is the authority, and anyone you hire should be able to tell you which permits they have checked for.

Get a Seward quote

Send the form with a photo taken straight down into the well, the depth from grade to the well floor, and the width and projection. That is usually enough for us to say whether you are looking at a liner, a cover, or a full replacement before the free measure. We also cover Crete, Waverly, Eagle, Hickman, and Lincoln.