Window well cover broken or missing: what to replace it with in Fort Collins and what it costs

A broken or missing window well cover is the cheapest problem on this site and the one that causes the most expensive ones. An open well collects rain, leaves, and 55.8 inches of snow a year, and a cracked cover funnels water into the well instead of off it. A fitted polycarbonate cover runs $175 to $650. If the well has been open long enough to flood, the drainage rebuild at $350 to $1,100 goes with it.

Check this first (two minutes)

Is the well an emergency escape opening? If the room behind it is a bedroom, the cover has to be openable from inside without a key, tool, or special knowledge, and it cannot need more force than a person can apply from below. Bolted covers and heavy grates fail inspection here and are dangerous besides.
Is the well next to a door or a path? Fort Collins requires fall protection on new wells adjacent to doors and walking surfaces. A well by the back steps needs a cover or grate that will hold a person, not a bubble that will hold a leaf.
Measure the rim. Length, width, and whether the well is round-backed or square. Covers are sized to the rim, and a cover that overhangs sheds water; one that sits inside it catches water.
Look at the bottom of the well. If there is silt and standing water, the cover has been gone long enough that the bed is plugged. A new cover on a flooded well is half a fix.
Look at the old cover’s failure. Cracked across the middle is snow load. Chalky and brittle is UV. Ripped off the rim is wind or a mower. Each points at a different replacement.

What is usually wrong

What you see	Likely cause	Fix and cost
Cover cracked across the middle	Snow load on an under-rated span	Polycarbonate cover rated for the span, $175 to $650
Cover brittle, yellowed, breaks when lifted	UV degradation	Replacement cover, same range
No cover, well dry	Never had one	Cover, low end of range
No cover, well full of silt and water	Open for years, bed plugged	Cover plus drainage rebuild, $350 to $1,100 added
Cover present but bolted shut over a bedroom window	Escape opening blocked	Hinged, inside-openable cover; inspection item
Well beside the back door, cover is a bubble	Fall hazard, not fall protection	Grate or load-rated cover

Why this matters in Fort Collins

Two facts from the city’s own egress guide shape what goes on a well here. First, “fall protection is required for new window wells adjacent to doors and walking surfaces,” so a well beside the patio door needs something a person can step on, not a bubble. Second, wells in a series “may provide a metal grate window well cover,” which is the city’s stated answer for a row of wells along a walk. The same guide requires new wells to be designed for drainage and connected to the foundation drain if present, and a cover is the first line of that drainage: water that never enters the well never has to leave it.

The load is real. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for the CSU campus station put Fort Collins at 55.8 inches of snow a year, and the city’s residential design default is a 35 psf ground snow load. A flat cover spanning a well that is 36 inches or more out from the wall carries every inch of that. Cheap covers are rated for nothing and crack the first heavy spring storm. The freeze season runs from the median first fall freeze on October 6 to the median last spring freeze on May 1, so a cover that cracks in November sits broken through five months of melt and refreeze.

The soil makes the consequence worse. On the clay soils that overlie the Pierre Shale under Fort Collins, a well that takes on water holds it, because the ground around it passes water slowly and the gravel bed silts. That is the flooding well problem, and an open well is how it starts.

What we install

A polycarbonate cover cut to the rim, domed or sloped so water sheds away from the house, rated for the span, and hinged or lift-off from inside on any escape opening. Where the well is beside a door or path, a grate rated for foot traffic, with a clear cover over it if the well also needs to stay dry. Covers get fitted to the actual well, not to a catalog size, because a gap at the wall is a funnel. If the well itself is rusted or too small for the bedroom behind it, we will say so and point you to the well replacement page rather than sell a cover for a well that is coming out.

When to call

Send the form with a photo of the well from above and the rim measurements. Say whether the room is a bedroom and whether the well is next to a door. A cover is often a same-week job. The well cost calculator has a covers-only option, and if the well has been open so long that it floods, the covers and drainage page explains the full fix. We fit covers across Fort Collins, Windsor, Timnath, and Wellington.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a cover on my window well?

Code does not require one on most wells, but Fort Collins does require fall protection on new wells next to doors and walking surfaces, and a well with no cover fills with snow, leaves, and rain. A fitted polycarbonate cover runs $175 to $650 and is the cheapest thing that keeps a well dry.

Can a cover go on an egress well?

Yes, as long as it can be opened from inside without a key or tool and does not need more force than a person can apply. The city guide also allows wells in a series to use a metal grate cover. A cover bolted shut or too heavy to lift from below turns an escape opening into a trap and fails inspection.

Why did my cover crack?

Snow load and sun. Fort Collins averages 55.8 inches of snow a year at the CSU station, and a flat, cheap bubble cover carrying a foot of wet snow on a well over 44 inches deep bows and splits. UV does the rest over a few summers. A cover rated for the span and the load lasts.

Is a grate better than a clear cover?

A grate stops falls and lets light in, and it is the city's stated option for wells in a series, but it does not keep water or snow out. A clear polycarbonate cover keeps the well dry. Where fall protection and drainage both matter, a grate under a hinged clear cover does both.