I don't think that you will find yourself using a patio in the area of the basement egress window. It is too out of the way.

I was at a friend's house (yes, I do have friends) a couple of weeks ago who had done the very thing. Oddly enough, he also has a bumped out room on the back of the house with a patio (rather than deck). I have gone to his childrens birthday parties along with their extended family and parents of the childrens' friends such as myself. The gathering is on the patio and the area around it at the same elevation. No one goes to the other patio just a few feet away except the children chasing each other around and climbing the walls, literally. He was recently askind me how much fill it would take to infill the area save for a much smaller stair well in front of his slider. He concluded that the lawn would be more useful and less an obstacle. He has a lot of PT ties invested in this job just 2 years ago that he is going to rip out.

I think that you are again looking at the site to try to dictate a use. You will be much more successful if you work the other way around. Stick to the idea of the "ideal schematic" until you are limited by the site or other considerations to vary from it.

I wasn't particularly concerned with the frequency of it's use. I'm looking at another area for my "getaway" and for the firepit, etc. This idea (for the window-well) is simply a thought I had as I was manuvering and messing with the deck/firepit/garden-room designs. I figured it would (as I said) make that window well more attractive, provide a pleasant view for the bedroom. It's simply an aside, not a focus. I'm still working on the focus. I'll post another thread with potential deck and "getaway" designs in a couple of days.

And, again, thanks SO much for pointing me in the right direction. You have NOOOOO idea how helpful your words have been.

Moon

Oh you have a bedroom there. The back of my place is not much different looking than yours (and probably very similar to millions of other homes) and I am also thinking of adding some combination of deck, screened porch and patio. I have much smaller basement windows. I would love to add in a sliding glass door and access steps where your window is shown...but you would likely not want to add an entrance into the bedroom.

I would think that more of a U shaped well there would look nicer than the timber wall (I have seen ads for wells with planting pockets). It sure seems like who ever graded your lot let this one window dictate a lot of the grading. It is nice to have a large window with a pretty view in the basement, but it seem odd how your grading dips down to meet the bottom of this window.

-Brent

Brent,
Tell me about it. Especially since there is already one concrete window well. Doesn't it seem like you'd just have two concrete window wells, then grade the lot accordingly?

That's ok. You should see the placement of several support posts in the basement (somebody's head was @#$^%!!! when they looked at our plan). And did I mention that our topsoil is buried under the dirt they dug out when excavating the basement.......

On the other hand, without this slope, I might not have thought of doing a multi-level deck/patio. So, maybe it's six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

Moon

You'd still have the slope, though. My parents used to have a porch under their deck. While it wasn't used as much as the deck, it did have the advantage of shade and privacy from the rest of the family.

Walk out basements are all the rage recently!

I have seen colonial style houses built on level-grade with the cement cast foundation walls going up 1-story just to have a walk out basement. Atop the foundation wall is a 1-story colonial/ranch?. If the grade was made up to within 6 inches of foundation wall free-board, then the house would look like it was built atop a burial mound. As is, it is just abominal that it got a building permit.

Quick idea.
Paws
{{gwi:52450}}

Start your design by documenting and assessing water flow. You will want your design to address three things: a normal rain for your area, the once-in-a-lifetime 100 year storm, and the retention of water to decrease irrigation cost.

Unless they have lived through it, few people understand the impact of 9 inches of rain over 90 minutes. Depending on the grading and elevations for the proposed deck and patio, it's possible a have water level close to or above your floor elevation. The windows under you kitchen won't hold the pressure. When they blow out your basement will flood.

In my area water runs about $2 / 1000 gal. Over a year the total rainfall has a value of $1,500.00. Common runoff rates are 2/3. Design can reduce runoff to one 1/3 and result in a actual yearly saving of $300.00 or more. Pay close attention to the thread on rain gardens.

In the graphic below I show water flow as I understand it from your photos.

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Some of the flow is shown with in light blue, some as a bold blue arrows. Bold indicates areas of concern.

If there is water comimg onto your lot from the uphill side, you need to know how big of an area follows this path. Is it a 200 sq ft part of your neighbor's back yard or the roof water and drainage of several back yards.

The blue "?" is an area, because it faces the uphill side of the lot, that will be prone to a drainage problem. Pay particular attention to the design here to assure positive dainange.

The drainage from the kitchen area must be maintained. You can pipe the flow from a normal rain from this area but you can't pipe the flows from a 100 yr storm event. A design that carries large surface flows out and around the proposed patio won't look right. To route the flow between the deck and patio you will need to keep the grade there low and wide enough to carry the 100 yr storm. You might want to start thinking of dry stream beds or water features such as a small pond for this area.

To do a good job with the design above and the next step below, you need an acturate map of the existing grades and the relative elevation of the house, sidewalk and street.

To gather the data to complete the base map you will need an auto level or lazer level. Can you borrow one, or rent one from a local store?

In the graphic below I show a basic location for the deck and patio. The dashed line through the patio is where you will want to do a profile perpendicular to the sidewalk.

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The profile might look something like the graphic below. On grid paper, plot the existing ground line down across the sidewalk into the street. Plot the house floor elevation for reference. Select a trial elevation for the patio that is lower than the floor, best if this level is at some multiple of standard step height from the deck elevation.

{{gwi:52456}}

Plot a point 5.5 ft above the sidewalk that will represent the eye height of a moderatly tall person. Now you can play with the design of a retaining wall. Plan on a wall with a 2.5 to 3 ft solid sight barrier above the patio grade, such as a low fence, hedge, or an extention of the wall.

Move the wall right to left to create the situation shown. When seated near the edge you should see over the low obstruction for a full view of the street area, but back from the edge you get the feel of privacy.

Why a wall? Because a dirt slope from the edge of the patio will be too steep to mow with ease. The above exercise will determine the wall location and patio grade.