Basement Window & Door Guides
Plain-language reading from Chinook Basement Windows and Doors on choosing and fitting basement windows, exterior basement doors and window wells in Calgary, so you can plan the job before anyone prices it.
Casement vs Slider Egress Window: Choosing by Type
A casement swings its whole sash clear; a slider opens only half its width. One foundation opening can pass with one window type and fail with another.
Egress Window Inspection: What Inspectors Actually Check
What inspectors actually check on an egress window: the tape measurements, the open-it-yourself test, the well, and why clear opening trips up most windows.
Block vs Poured Foundations: How the Window Job Changes
Poured concrete acts as one piece; block is hollow units stacked up. How to identify your foundation at home, and why it reshapes a basement window job.
Selling a House With an Illegal Basement Suite in Calgary: What Buyers Pay For
Selling a house with an illegal basement suite in Calgary? Why most buyers won't pay for the suite, and why the bedroom window is the fix to look at first.
Window Well Covers and Code: Where a Cover Crosses the Line
Window well covers are allowed by code, provided escaping never needs a tool or a trick. The 'special knowledge' wording is what most covers get wrong.
Walk-Out Basement vs Separate Entrance: Which Door Suits Your Lot?
Walk-out basement vs separate entrance: one is a door onto ground already low enough, the other a door at the foot of a retained stairwell. Your grade picks.
Lintels Explained: What Carries the Wall Over a New Window or Door
Lintels explained for basement windows and doors: what the beam carries, why its ends matter as much as its size, and why sizing belongs to an engineer.
Can You Install an Egress Window in a Calgary Winter?
Frozen soil slows the digging, not the concrete cutting. What really differs between January and July on a basement window job, and the thaw risk.
Basement Bedroom Without Egress: The Real Consequences
Often nothing, for a long time. Then a home sale, a suite inspection, an insurer question or a fire turns that basement bedroom back into a spare room.
How Long Does an Egress Window Install Take?
How long an egress window takes to install depends less on the crew than on engineering, permits and inspection. Here is the order the work happens in.
New Opening vs Enlarging an Existing Basement Window
Enlarging an old basement window looks cheaper but often is not. Why going wider rarely fixes it, why going down usually does, and how to decide.
Calgary Window Well Size and Drainage Guide
Window well size and drainage in Calgary: how much clear space a well needs, how an open sash or ladder uses it up, and why clay soil punishes a poor drain.
Can You Cut a Door Into a Poured Concrete Foundation?
You can, and sawing the concrete is the simple bit. The real questions are the load sitting above the new door and the soil pressing on the outside.
Egress Window Permits in Calgary: Do You Need One?
Whether you need a permit hinges on structure: how a window swap differs from a structural alteration, which authority applies, and what we take on.
Egress Window Cost in Calgary: The Factors Behind Your Quote
No price range here, by design. The factors that set the cost of a new egress window in a Calgary basement, and why two fair quotes can differ widely.
Alberta Egress Window Size Requirements, Explained
Alberta egress window size requirements are three figures, and two must hold together. Why the window you pick decides whether a wall opening passes.
Calgary Secondary Suite Egress Rules for Basement Bedroom Windows
The five code figures a suite bedroom window must meet, what clear opening really measures, and why a basement window that seems big enough often fails.