How To Build A Window Well Out Of Wood
If you need to supersede your window well covers you'll quickly discover that the off the shelf options can be expensive! In this article, I'll be covering how to build your own set of DIY window well covers from wood for a fraction of the toll.
Whatsoever successful DIY project requires a bit of planning, so here's a quick list of the tools that y'all'll detect useful for this project.
Tools & Supplies Needed
Tools:
- Drill or bear upon driver
- Tap measurer
- Saw
- Sawhorses (optional just handy!)
Supplies:
- i″ x four″ pressure treated board
- 2″ x 4″ pressure treated board
- two″ outdoor wood screws
Tip: I'll show y'all how to find out exactly how many boards are needed once you've had a adventure to measure out your window well(due south).
Steps for DIY Window Well Covers
Stride 1: Measure out your Window Wells
In lodge to know exactly how many boards will be needed for the project, you lot'll need to go out and measure out the size of your window wells. Brand sure to measure each and every window well that will need a new cover as it's common for a home to have more than than 1 size.
There may also be variations between each that crave slight differences in the assembly, and so make a few measurements, jot them downwardly somewhere handy, and go fix to cutting!
You will need to find the widest part of the well (probable next to the house) and information technology's maximum depth (house to front lip).
Tip: For the depth measurement, make sure to measure to the within edge of the window well embrace to ensure that the vertical runners will only fit within of the well.
Now – make certain that yous write down these measurements somewhere rubber so that you don't lose them and need to remeasure!
Echo these measurement steps for each window well. Measuring to the nearest i/viii inch is precise enough for this projection.
Step 2: Calculate Materials Needed
Once yous have all of your measurement, you'll need to practise some quick math to ensure that you buy enough raw materials i.due east. wood.
I'll walk through how to make this elementary adding with my window well sizes, simply you lot'll need to apply the same approach to your ain since they are likely unlike in size!
I used ii×4-inch boards for my vertical runners, and one×four-inch boards for the horizontal ones, but if you lot'd adopt to apply something stronger like all ii×4'southward so that certainly volition work also.
Each window well cover has 2 vertical runners, so you'll want to multiply the depth past 2 for each window well and add them up. In my instance, I had 3 window wells that were 24 inches deep, and 1 that was 36 inches deep.
Ex. (24 inches * ii * 3) + (36 inches * 2) = 216 total inches
Now that you've got the total corporeality of wood, you'll want to add 10% for overage, mistakes, etc… to bring the full in my example to 238 inches. Now separate that full by the length of boards that you'll exist using.
8-pes lengths (72 inches) are the almost common, just simply double bank check here.
Ex. 238 / 72 = 3.iii
Circular upward to the nearest whole board since you typically tin't purchase partial lengths i.east. 4 in this example. In my setup, this is how many treated two×four's I so purchased for the project.
Adjacent up, it'due south time to figure out how many i×4'south that you volition need!
For this step, you tin choose to add more than or less boards, merely for safety, I chose to have a board roughly every six inches.
For a 24-inch depth, that meant that 3 of my window wells would have 4 horizontal boards, and I used five on my larger (36-inch well).
To calculate the linear feet needed for each window well:
- Add 4 inches to the width measurement for each well (to allow for overhang)
- Multiply past the number of boards on that well
- Repeat steps i-2 for each well and add together to become a full linear anxiety
- Separate the full linear feet by the board length (likely eight feet again)
- Round up to the nearest whole lath
Take a deep sigh of relief now that the math is complete!
With the math out of the way, head to your local hardware or lumber supply store to purchase the necessary number of 1×4'southward and 2×4'due south. Make sure to utilize force per unit area treated lumber as information technology volition exist exposed to the air current, pelting, snow, etc…
Tip: If you're worried well-nigh messing up the math, go ahead and buy a couple extra of each every bit y'all tin can ever return them subsequently!
Step 3: Cut Your Boards
Using your previous measurements, get ahead and cutting downwards all of the 1×4's and ii×4'southward down to their respective measurements.
The cuts for the one×4's don't need to exist perfect, just reasonably close in length every bit you volition be trimming many of them later on.
Y'all volition desire to try and get the ii×4'southward very close to their measurements every bit you lot want them to have a snug fit in the window well. Because of the bend in the window well, I'd recommend cutting the 2×4's near 2 inches shorter than your actual measured width to ensure that they're able to slide down within the well.
A circular or tabular array saw will make this much easier, just y'all can always complete this step with a manus saw if needed equally well.
Step 3: Assemble The Window Well Frame
Lay two 2×four's on the footing parallel to each other that are spaced out by half the width of the window well. Lay 1 1×4 across 1 terminate, and a second i×4 beyond the other end.
Permit each one×4 to hang 1 inch off the cease of the two×four and then that it can act equally a catch.
Utilise a single screw to attach the 1×4 and ii×4 at each spot where they cross (4 full).
Accept the frame to the well and do a quick test fit to ensure that it's able to fit downward in the well. If the two×4's are too long to allow the frame to sit down down inside, so they are too long and will need to be trimmed shorter.
This is also a good risk to ensure that the ends of the 1×4's go past the border of the window well and leave an overhang. Also much overhang is ok as these ends can be trimmed downwardly later.
Nevertheless, not fully going past the window well edge is bad because it won't be strong.
If need exist, unscrew and re-screw the boards to make everything line upwardly correctly and simply motility on in one case it all lines upwards!
Step 4: Add The Remaining Boards
Once you've confirmed that the window well embrace properly fits, add remaining screws to the existing end boards to lock them into place. I used 4 screws on each board for extra security.
After securing the stop boards, add together the middle boards and secure them in place with several (3-4) screws at each crossing point.
The middle boards should be evenly spaced out to forbid in that location from being whatever overly large gaps in the cover.
Step 5: Trim The Lath Ends (optional)
At this point, you should have a fully functional window well encompass that's ready to serve its purpose!
However, if you want to tidy things upwards a little by trimming the excess edges off that volition make them look a little nicer.
I used a direct border to mark a line in pencil that left at to the lowest degree a 1 inch overhang past the well edge, and so used my saw to trim information technology off.
Repeat this process for any remaining window well covers and you can call this projection washed!
Decision on DIY Window Well Covers
It's worth pointing out that these window well covers are meant to prevent deadly accidents, not exist used for common action. Children, pets, and adults should avoid playing on or around them.
Because these window well covers are made from wood, you'll too detect that they will need to be replaced over fourth dimension. While treated forest slows the rotting process, eventually the sun and moisture will weaken the wood to the indicate that it's no longer safe and will need to be replaced.
These window well covers cost around $25 each to make and ii hours of time. Which felt similar a steal compared to the overpriced flimsy plastic ones establish in well-nigh hardware stores!
Related Articles
If you institute this article helpful, so make certain to also take a look at some of these related posts before you go!
- How To Reupholster Bar Stool Seats
- Ways To Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinets (Without Painting Them)
- Will Home Depot Cut Wood For You?
Source: https://projectperfecthome.com/diy-window-well-covers/
Posted by: chickbardecome.blogspot.com
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