Egress windows in Duluth
Egress help for houses up and down the hill, from the lakeshore to the top of the ridge.
Duluth is the seat of St. Louis County and had 86,697 residents at the 2020 census. The city rises steeply from Lake Superior, with the airport sitting roughly 800 feet higher than the lakeside. That slope shapes nearly every basement project here: walk-out walls on one side, buried walls on the other, and wells that are shallow at one corner of the house and deep at another.
What makes Duluth jobs different?
- Older foundations. Duluth's older neighborhoods have plenty of houses built long before modern egress rules, and some sit on stone, brick or block walls that take extra planning to open up.
- Bedrock. The Duluth Complex, mostly gabbro, underlies much of the city. Shallow rock can turn well excavation into rock work.
- Winter. Long, cold winters with roughly 90 inches of average snowfall make covers and well drainage more important than in most places.
Permits and rentals
Building permits go through the City's Construction Services and Inspections division, which lists windows among the work it permits. Landlords also deal with the Fire Department's Life Safety Division, which licenses rentals by number of legal bedrooms. If you own a rental near UMD or St. Scholastica and want to add a basement bedroom, sort out both before you start.
Common questions
Do I need a permit for an egress window in Duluth?
Plan on it. The City's Construction Services and Inspections division issues permits for window work, and its basement handout asks for a site plan when the window gets a well.
Can an egress well go on the uphill side of a hillside house?
It can, but that side is often deeper, which may mean a ladder, more excavation and more careful drainage. An installer can compare locations.
Services in Duluth
- Egress window installationA new code-size basement window, cut, set, sealed and finished, with the well outside.
- Cutting and enlarging openingsSaw-cutting poured concrete and reworking block, brick or stone walls for a bigger window.
- Window wells and laddersCode-size wells with built-in steps or ladders, drainage and backfill.
- Window well coversCovers that keep out snow, leaves and critters but still open from inside.
- Basement bedroom code complianceMake a basement room a legal sleeping room for a sale, a rental or a finished basement.
Nearby areas
Finishing the basement or adding a bedroom down there?
Call now and a local egress installer will look at the wall and quote the opening, the window and the well.