Covers get bought for three different reasons and the right material is different for each. Before comparing anything, work out which of these is your actual problem — or start with do I need a window well cover if you have not decided yet.
- Water. The well fills during heavy rain or spring melt and the sill is going soft.
- Safety. Someone could step into an open well in the dark, or a child or pet could fall in.
- Debris. Leaves, snow and grass clippings fill the well and block the drainage you built.
Most people have two of the three. Very few have none.
Galvanized steel frame
The strongest option and the one that carries snow best. A steel frame will take a load a lighter frame will not, which matters anywhere with real winter accumulation — the snowbelt south of Georgian Bay, the Quebec interior, the northern prairies.
It is also the heaviest to lift off. If the well is an egress well and the cover is part of the exit route, weight is a real consideration, not a nuisance: whatever is over that window has to be removable by whoever is climbing out.
Steel covers start at $350.00 here and match the same width table as the wells.
Aluminum frame
Lighter to handle, which is the whole argument for it. If the cover comes off and goes back on regularly — seasonal cleaning, a window you actually open, an egress well — aluminum is easier to live with.
It carries less load than steel, so in heavy snow country it wants more support or more frequent clearing. Aluminum covers start at $520.00.
Clear polycarbonate glazing
Polycarbonate is not an alternative to a frame — it is what goes in the frame. A framed cover with a clear polycarbonate sheet sheds rain and snow while still passing daylight into the basement, which is the reason most people do not want a solid lid over a window they were trying to get light from.
It is the obvious choice on the west coast, where frost is negligible and rain is the entire problem: the well stays dry and the room stays lit.
Polycarbonate does age. UV exposure clouds it over years, and it is worth replacing the sheet rather than the whole cover when it does.
Moulded plastic domes
The clear bubble covers sold in hardware stores are a different product from a framed cover with a clear panel, and they behave differently: cheaper and lighter, but they do not carry snow and they go brittle in the cold. Worth reading plastic versus steel before you choose between them.
Grates and open mesh
A grate solves safety and debris and does nothing about water. If the well already drains properly and the problem is that someone could step into it, a grate is honest and cheaper than glazing.
Choosing, in one paragraph
If the problem is water and you want to keep the daylight, use a framed cover with clear polycarbonate. If the problem is snow load, use a steel frame. If the cover comes on and off often, or the well is an egress well, use aluminum. If the problem is only that the hole is a hazard, use a grate.
A cover is not a substitute for drainage
This is worth saying plainly, because covers get sold as a waterproofing product. A cover stops water arriving from above. It does nothing about water arriving through the soil, and on a well with no gravel base and no route out, groundwater will still fill it from below.
Fix drainage first: clear crushed stone at the base, tied into weeping tile where you can reach it, and grade sloping away from the foundation. Work out where your water is actually coming from before you buy a cover to stop it.
Sizing and fitting
Covers are sized to the well, not to the window. Take the width and projection of the well itself, at the top where the cover will sit. If you are ordering a well and a cover together, order them in the same order — freight is charged once per order regardless of how many pieces are on it.
Fitting one takes about twenty minutes: how to install a window well cover. If you would rather build your own, here is how to do that properly.
Browse all 42 window well cover sizes — steel and aluminum, made in Canada — or start from the wells themselves if you need both.