Converting a Window into a Walkout Entry Door
Hello everyone. I’m Caleb with Dansie Design Build in Riverton, Utah. Today I am talking to you about a basement walkout entry and what you can do when considering putting in a window or converting a window into a walkout entry door. So let’s jump right in here and take a look.
Window Conversion
Okay, this is a basement walkout entry that we are doing, it’s under construction. We used an existing window for this walkout to make room for a walkout basement door. You’ll notice here that the window on the right is lower than the door on the left, and there’s a steel piece above the walkout window and the door.
Steel Bar Above the Window and the Door: Why?
We had to do that because cutting the concrete above the window to let the door go in there weakens that concrete.
So you can see here that a piece of rebar gets cut when we cut that concrete. It’s essential when you have a seven-foot walkout basement egress door. You can’t have a short door for an emergency basement exit like this.
Cutting and removing the concrete leaves a little extra space on the side. One thing we did on this project was put a window in that space. It’s custom-sized, so it’s narrower and fits right in. Then we framed it so the door opens up and has room for all the framing, deadbolt, and everything to go in here, and the trim to fit on with the door casing.
Choosing the Window
The other thing that I wanted to talk about is the actual window itself. This is an AMSCO window that we chose to use on this project. It has a vinyl frame, so it’s low maintenance — perfect for the weather and the water and everything.
Window Efficiency Ratings
Such windows have an efficiency rating at the back. So you can see this one has a solar heat gain of 0.36. That’s the rating coefficient for this particular product.
Its U-Factor is 0.31. We want the U-Factor to be as small of a number as possible. That way, the window maintains as much heat or cooling in the building. The lower that coefficient is, the better insulation it offers.
As for the solar heat gain, we want a higher number in Utah. So we are looking for a number between 0.3 and 0.45 to allow heat from the sun to come into the building in the wintertime.
Wrapping Up
That’s a bit about how we chose this window and what we’re doing here on this basement walkout entry.
So if you were looking for help finishing your basement, building a basement apartment, putting in a walkout entry into your home, or getting plans drawn for a remodel that you’re considering doing, you can reach out and request a project consultation on our website. We’ll see how we can best help you.
Thank you for your time today, and have a great day.
