The only thing quick about your question is the math. If the widow sill is less than 44" off the floor, then the top of a 4' window would be about 14" below the top of the foundation. You can pour a concrete lintel over the top of the window. The window opening should be framed out in the forms before the concrete is poured. The hopper windows are often set inside removable steel window bucks and poured directly into the concrete with the top of the window about a foot down from the top of the foundation.

When you consider that the dirt will be about 9" below the top of the foundation, and the top of the windows will be lower, you should realize how much light will be blocked by a window well. The egress window well can't be more than 44" deep either without steps to climb out. When the gravel in the bottom of the window well should be 8" below the window frame to protect from rot and termites etc, the top of a standard window well would still be about 28" below the top of the foundation or 19" below the dirt level. If you go with a stepped window well, you will get more light into the basement, as will a wider well. At that point, you may want to consider making the hole for the window wider than the window and all the way to the top of the foundation even if the window doesn't go that high. Then you can side around the window and above it to make it look better and tie it into the rest of the house. If you want to go with the smallest window wells possible, I would increase the height of the window to 5'. That will tie them into the rest of the house nicer without any extra siding hanging down and give you more of what is usually much needed light in the basement, as the well will block the light coming in from the lower half. These are all details that should be drawn up on complete plan. It is often done on a separate sectional view. This will include the actual height of the foundation which may not be exactly 9' if using plywood forms, the thickness of the basement floor, how many sill plates to avoid anchor bolts interfering with the floor joists etc, etc. From there, it is easier to figure out where the top of the window will be in relation to the maximum sill height.

Fred, Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I should have known there is no such thing as a quick question when it comes to construction. So that I understand fully, assuming my actual basement height will be 8' 11" (sub floor to ceiling joist), if I use a 5 foot window and the sill is set at 44" then the space above the window to the ceiling joist is only 3".

Does that give enough room for a header and if so what kind of header would I use? In other words what would should be the minimum header space above the window that is practical since I could always lower the sill.

thanks

Jim

Well, to start with, there are several ways to do everything. If you set the sill plate into the concrete when pouring it, your ceiling height could be as little as 8'-7" after the concrete floor. If you use aluminum forms and 2 sill plates, your ceiling height would be about 8'-11".

The bottom of the window rough opening would actually be around 42" so that the finished sill is less than 44", leaving 5"ish in your example.

The minimum header space needed between the top of the window and the floor joists above is ZERO. Because, it is just as easy to build the header into the rim joist. The size of a header in the wall, depends on the load it will be carrying. It will/ could carry floor joists, maybe 2 or more floors, and roof trusses. The design load for the roof depends on where you live and how much snow load you get. It also depends on whether you mean a wood header from 2× material, a gluelam or engineered beam, or a poured in place concrete lintel.

I prefer the top of the outside finished window to be at the same elevation as the bottom of the bottom row of siding on the house above the concrete, or about 3" down from there to allow for a trim board to go all the way around the window without cutting into the clean straight line of the bottom row of siding. Of course, other times I like to break it up a bit depending on the design of the house, and whether the line was too straight and long :).

Just too many hypotheticals here to tell you much. The only thing I can say with some degree of certainty is that I always prefer basement windows to go as close to the ceiling as practical. The more blue sky you can see compared to grey window well, the cheerier the basement is.

Thanks again Fred… great info. I think I will try to get the window as high
up as possible without breaking into the bottom row of siding as suggested.

Jim

I have 5ft x 5ft windows in my basement. The basement ceiling is ~11ft and the windows are 2.5ft from the floor so they are way below grade. My solution to the well problem was a 8ft x 4ft x 12ft well made out of steel reinforced split face tan concrete block with matching grout. Egress is through a permanently installed ladder. The rather large well allows for lots of light (during the day I don't need lights in the basement - the tan split face block surface reflects more than enough.).

The window opening was framed into the concrete forms and not cut out later. Cutting concrete later is a major pain.