Green Bay Egress Window Questions, Answered

Wisconsin's own Uniform Dwelling Code (SPS 320–325), not the IRC. For one- and two-family homes, the egress window rules live in SPS 321.03(6), and the numbers differ from the IRC's: Wisconsin requires a 20-by-24-inch minimum net clear opening in either orientation and allows sills up to 60 inches, where the IRC demands 5.7 square feet and a 44-inch maximum sill. Advice written for IRC states is often wrong for a Green Bay basement.

Under SPS 321.03(6): a net clear opening at least 20 by 24 inches (either dimension can be the width), openable from inside without tools or removing a sash, with nothing - stops, stools, meeting rails, operator arms - infringing on the opening. The lowest point of the opening can be no more than 60 inches above the floor, and if it's above 46 inches, a permanent platform at least 20 inches wide and 9 inches deep must sit within 46 inches below the opening, no more than 24 inches off the floor, rated for 200 pounds.

Yes. SPS 321.03(5)(b) requires a second exit from a basement used for sleeping, and an egress window complying with SPS 321.03(6) located in each bedroom is the standard way to satisfy it. Without one, the room isn't a legal bedroom - appraisers won't count it and inspectors will flag it.

The UDC calls the well an areaway. It must be at least as wide as the window it serves and project at least 36 inches out from the below-grade wall. If the bottom sits more than 46 inches below grade or the top of the enclosure, it needs a ladder or stair - rungs at least 12 inches wide, projecting at least 3 inches from the wall, no more than 12 inches apart, reaching to within 12 inches of grade. The code also requires the areaway be built so water entering it doesn't enter the dwelling.

A full install - permit, excavation, concrete cut, window, well, and drainage - typically runs $3,500–$6,500. Well replacement runs $1,000–$3,000, basement window replacement $400–$1,100 per window, and permits $150–$600 itemized at cost. The full breakdown is on the pricing page, and quotes are flat after a free on-site measure.

Your own municipality. Green Bay addresses go through the City of Green Bay's Building Inspection division; De Pere has its own Building Inspection Division; Howard runs permits through its Code Administration department; Suamico through its Building Inspection/Zoning office; and Bellevue through its Community Development department. We file with the correct office for your address as part of the job.

No - and you should be wary of anyone who says they can. Permits and inspections belong to your municipality. What a good installer does is build to the UDC text and local requirements, handle the paperwork, and stand behind the work through the final inspection. That's our standard practice; a guarantee of a government decision is not something any honest contractor can sell.

Wisconsin doesn't issue a general contractor's license - it certifies Dwelling Contractors through the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and that certification (plus a certified qualifier) is required to pull permits on one- and two-family homes. Ask whoever quotes your installation to show that certification and proof of insurance. Homeowners doing their own work on their own residence have a limited exemption, but the structural and drainage stakes make this a poor DIY candidate.

Excavation effectively stops once the ground freezes - frost here drives toward the code's 48-inch footing depth. The season for cutting runs roughly April through November. Winter is for measures, quotes, and permits (so you're first in the spring queue) and for interior work like window replacement in existing openings, which runs year-round.

The UDC took effect June 1, 1980 and applies statewide to homes built since then. For older Green Bay housing, the municipal inspection office determines how the standards apply to remodeling work - in practice, new egress openings are built to current UDC specs regardless of the home's age, because that's the standard the inspector reviews against. It's one more reason the permit conversation happens before the saw comes out.

A properly built one does the opposite. The UDC requires the areaway to keep water out of the dwelling, and in Green Bay's heavy clay that means a real gravel drainage bed tied to the footing drain tile where one exists, or a deep gravel dry well where it doesn't, plus compacted backfill graded away from the house. Leaks come from wells set on raw clay with no drainage path - the classic cheap-install shortcut.

A rec room or office doesn't trigger the bedroom egress requirement the way a sleeping room does. But most finished basements eventually get slept in - guests, teenagers, resale listings - and cutting the opening while walls are open is significantly cheaper than retrofitting after drywall. Many homeowners add the opening during the finish for exactly that reason, plus the natural light.

Brown County is in EPA radon Zone 2, the moderate-potential band, so finished basements here commonly get mitigation systems. Egress and mitigation don't conflict - sequence both before drywall. If a radon test hasn't been done, do it before finishing; it's cheap and it changes the plan if levels are high.

On-site work is typically 1–2 days: excavation and cutting the first day; window, well, drainage, and backfill the second. Permit lead time comes first and varies by office - simple residential permits in area municipalities often move in days, plan-review cases can take a week or two. We build the permit timeline into the schedule.

Yes - that's routine work in Green Bay's older east- and west-side housing. Glass-block removal plus a modern low-E, argon-filled unit in the existing opening runs $400–$1,100 per window and can be done year-round. Note that glass block is not an egress opening; if the room is a bedroom, it needs a compliant opening, which usually means cutting.

Often, yes. Wisconsin's 20-by-24 minimum is a floor, not a target - it's about 3.3 square feet of opening. A larger casement or slider costs modestly more, brings real light into the room, is easier to climb through, and reads better to buyers who've seen IRC-sized openings elsewhere. We quote the code-minimum and the comfortable option and let you pick.

Any basement room used for sleeping needs a compliant egress opening - and Green Bay's large duplex and rental stock makes this a common retrofit. A non-conforming rental bedroom is an inspection and liability problem, and it can't honestly be advertised as a bedroom. The code-compliance-upgrades page covers the pre-inspection version of this work.