Basement Window Replacement in Des Moines

Basement window replacement swaps the failing units in your existing openings - single-pane hoppers, rotted wood frames, glass block - for modern, sealed, energy-efficient windows, with no cutting and no excavation. Des Moines Egress Windows does these installed at $400–$1,100 per window, year-round, across the metro. It’s the right service when the opening is fine and the window is the problem.

It is not the right service when the room needs to legally be a bedroom - and being straight about that line is most of this page.

Replacement vs. egress: know which job you need

An existing basement opening in a pre-1980 Des Moines home is almost always too small and too high for code egress. IRC R310 requires a net clear opening of at least 5.7 square feet (minimum 24” high and 20” wide) with a sill no more than 44 inches above the floor - and the typical 32” × 14” hopper near the ceiling of a 1950s ranch misses on every count. No replacement unit in that same hole will fix it; the hole itself has to grow, which is a full egress installation with a permit, a saw, and a well.

So the honest sorting:

• Utility room, laundry, workshop, storage → replacement. Cheaper, faster, no permit drama.
• Finished rec room where nobody sleeps → replacement is usually fine; egress is optional light-and-exit insurance.
• Bedroom, or a room a buyer will call a bedroom → egress install. Every sleeping room needs its own compliant opening; see code compliance upgrades if a sale is forcing the issue.

At the free measure we’ll tell you which side of the line your basement sits on - and if you were about to pay for a swap that can’t do what you actually need, that conversation just saved you $800.

What’s failing in metro basements

Original single-pane hoppers and awnings. The 1940s–1970s ranch belts - Urbandale east of 86th, Des Moines’ south and east sides, older West Des Moines - are full of steel- and wood-framed single-pane units that leak air in January, sweat condensation, and have hinges rusted past saving. A modern vinyl unit with insulated glass ends the frost-on-the-inside problem.

Glass block. The default mid-century “security upgrade” across older Des Moines - especially the pre-war brick stock in Beaverdale, Highland Park, and Capitol East. Block keeps burglars and ventilation out equally well, and behind the mortar the original wood bucks are often rotten. Glass-block removal is routine for us: block comes out, the opening gets cleaned up and re-bucked, and a sealed operable unit goes in.

Rotten wood bucks and sills. Wells that held water for years soak the buck frame - the wood that ties window to concrete. We replace bucks with pressure-treated stock as part of the swap, and if the well itself is the water source, fix the cause via well installation or drainage work instead of just installing a fresh victim.

What a replacement includes

1. Measure the true opening - masonry openings in older homes are rarely square, and units get ordered to the real hole, not a catalog assumption.
2. Remove the old window - chiseling out glass block and mortar, cutting out rusted steel frames, or pulling rotted wood units.
3. Rebuild the buck where needed with pressure-treated lumber anchored to the concrete.
4. Set, shim, foam, flash, and seal the new unit - insulated glass, with tempered glazing where the location calls for it.
5. Finish both sides - clean interior trim, exterior sealant that actually adheres to masonry.

Typical units are vinyl sliders or hoppers for shallow openings; where an opening already meets egress dimensions (some walk-out and daylight basements in newer Johnston and Ankeny homes do), we fit slider or casement egress units so you keep the compliance you already own.

Pricing

Full context on the pricing page. Every quote is flat after a free measure, and there’s no season premium - this is the job we do all winter while the ground is frozen.

One more honest note for sellers: replacing a basement window does not change how an appraiser counts bedrooms. If the listing depends on that fourth bedroom downstairs, the fix is the opening, not the glass - start with the egress install page or send the form and we’ll measure what you’ve actually got. Service across Des Moines, Ankeny, West Des Moines, Urbandale, and Johnston, performed by independent local contractors (ask to see proof of insurance).