What the heck do I do with this flooding window well?!?

[Billbill84]

Hi guys. So 3 weeks ago we got some water seeping in thru the basement window during a storm. I'm still learning this house as I've only owned since January and we didn't know that side of house is holding water in heavy rain. Upon investigation I found the ground was holding a lot of water and the well was completely flooded! I put two coats of flex seal over the window, it's never opened anyway and behind some bushes, I dug out the well expecting to find a clogged drain but to my dismay there is no drain! I dug it down past the pink insulation foam board about 2.5ft or so and since then that's how it's been sitting. U.S. Waterproofing quoted me some 2800 to remove and block up the window, no thanks, and said it's too much of a liability to install a drain that can drain to the footer tile! Their suggestion was to run the drain inside to the sump pit some 60ft away inside my fully finished basement, no thanks.

Should I get some clean gravel and refill it with that or put the dirt back in? I have a well cover but was also wondering because I'm not sure if leaving it dug out like that could cause some kind of damage?

 

[nealtw]

Here there would have been a drain down to the perimeter drain and a column of gravel right up the the surface. leaving it open only changes the frost depth there in the winter. If you don't care about the window put a plywood lid over it

 

[Billbill84]

Here there would have been a drain down to the perimeter drain and a column of gravel right up the the surface. leaving it open only changes the frost depth there in the winter. If you don't care about the window put a plywood lid over it

So I shouldn't leave the hole open then? If it changes that frost depth I don't want to take a chance and freeze up the perimeter drain. Before I dug it out a bit they had large rocks over the dirt

 

[nealtw]

So I shouldn't leave the hole open then? If it changes that frost depth I don't want to take a chance and freeze up the perimeter drain. Before I dug it out a bit they had large rocks over the dirt

You could level out the bottom and lay some foam board in there. Some where there is a chart on how much you need for how much depth you are protecting. Here we have a frost depth of 18" and they replace that with 4" foam. They do that when they add a door and the drain is right below the landing at the bottom of stairs.