Basement windows and doors, from the foundation out
We supply and install the windows and exterior doors that go into a basement, and the five services below tend to overlap. A bigger egress window comes with a well. A deep well comes with steps. A legal suite usually wants the window, the well and the permit together. And a separate entrance door needs all of that along with proper engineering, since a doorway removes much more of the foundation than a window.
The common thread is the wall. In most Calgary basements the new window or door has to fit into poured concrete that is holding the house up, so the opening often has to be enlarged before anything is installed. That is why each job begins with us measuring the wall, not with a number over the phone.
Egress Window Installation & Basement Window Enlarging
A basement window a person can actually climb out of. We enlarge the opening in your poured foundation, carry the wall above it on a steel lintel, fit and seal the new window, and build a drained well in front of it.
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Secondary Suite Egress Windows & Compliance
Bedroom windows brought up to what a legal secondary suite needs. We start from the inspection report, check each basement bedroom against it, and replace or enlarge only the windows that fall short.
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Basement Separate Entrance Doors & Walk-Outs
An exterior door into your basement, set in a full-height opening through the foundation wall. It serves as the private entry to a suite, or as a genuine walk-out where the yard slopes enough to allow one.
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Window Wells, Covers & Stairwell Retaining
The outside half of a basement window or door. Galvanized, precast or poured wells, covers and grates, retaining walls for entrance stairwells, drainage, and the ladders or steps a deep well must have.
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Permits & Structural Engineering for Basement Openings
The paperwork behind a new basement window or door: Alberta One-Call locates, the City of Calgary building permit, structural drawings stamped under APEGA with letters of assurance, and booking the inspections.
See how it worksThe code behind every egress opening we install
Set by the Alberta building code. A basement bedroom window needs to meet every one of these together, and anyone inside must be able to open it with no tools or special knowledge.
- Minimum clear opening
0.35 m² (3.77 sq ft)
The open, unobstructed space someone can really get through once the sash is out of the way — measured neither across the rough opening nor across the glass.
- Minimum dimension
380 mm (15")
Whichever way the window opens, that clear opening cannot measure under 380 mm in either direction, height or width.
- Maximum sill height
1.5 m above finished floor
Taken from the finished basement floor up to the sill. However large a window is, it does not count as egress if its sill sits above this height.
- Minimum well projection
760 mm clear
In front of the open sash, the well must keep 760 mm of clear space, so the well itself never stands in the way of the exit.
- Ladder or steps
Required deeper than 1.2 m
A window well more than 1.2 m deep must have a permanent ladder or steps, and they may not cut into the clear projection the well is required to keep.
The 0.35 m² refers to clear opening — the space someone can actually climb through with the sash open, measured inside the frame, not across the rough opening or the glass. Basement windows that look big enough fail inspection over this distinction more often than over anything else.
Picking the right service
Start with egress window installation if a basement bedroom has a window that is undersized, set too high, or will not open wide enough. We enlarge the opening, fit the new window and build the well in one job, so you are not buying the well separately.
Already have an inspection report from the City that flags bedroom egress in a suite? Go to suite compliance first. There, the written report decides what gets done rather than our opinion of what might be nice, and it is common for one or more of the bedrooms to comply already.
Wanting a private exterior door for the basement, or a lower floor that steps out to the yard, points to separate entrance doors. Expect a larger project: a wider section of foundation comes out, the lintel is heavier, the stairwell needs permanent retaining walls, and in most cases an APEGA-licensed P.Eng. stamps the drawings.
Prefer to leave the City paperwork to someone else? Permits and engineering can be added to any of these jobs.
Unsure where to start?
Tell us about the basement room and what you want it to be. We will explain which window or door work fits, what it takes, and whether you need anything done.