My husband and I were up at the family cabin, which is now almost 20 years old, putting down a new poly layer on the crawl space, when we discovered that there was a major leak under three , large, floor to ceiling homemade windows in the dining room (we didn’t make them; we bought it like that). Upon closer inspection, the caulk on the flat, cedar window sills wasn’t doing its job, and water leaked under the window into the insulation, framing, and finally into the crawl space. (Just a side note: If you’ve determined by now that we are both idiots for now redoing the flat cedar window sills – you are right! We thought about it, and knew they should be replaced, and we didn’t do it because……we just didn’t. Now, we’re regretting our inaction!!!)
Anyway, so far, we’ve removed the drywall and insulation below the window, and we sprayed on and brushed in mold’/mildew killer everywhere there was leaking water and black or white mold showing. Upon further inspection after treatment, there’s a 6″ length of 2×4 under the window which has rotted on the top 1/2 ‘ or so, a little of the particle board sheathing near that spot is also rotted. Similarly, underneath that area in the crawl space, there’s some rotted subfloor – extending about2″ to 6″ or so x 6″ long. (There’s cedar siding on the exterior.) Now, we’re trying to figure out where to go from there. On the “do it right” side, our sense is to wait until spring, remove the window, siding around it, and flooring and sub floor back about a foot, and replace it all with good wood. Then, there’s the “fix it” side, which, we think, would involve repeated treatment of the moldy areas until it’s virtually all gone, replacement of the rotten wood, spraying a sealer, and replacing the sills with boards cut at an angle so future moisture doesn’t get inside.
We appreciate any suggestions.
Replies
Your plan sounds like a good one to me. Kind of crazy to open things up now in the cold and do a rush job and not do it well. About the only thing I'd do now is put up a temporary plastic sheet or something to keep the water out and from pooling on the sill and wait for better weather.
We did take out the old caulk and put in new caulk AND also put another layer of angled bottom window sills above the old ones, and caulked those. It has been dry so far. So, would you do the whole big take out the window fix, or the smaller fix?
Thanks!
I gess I'd need to see it, BUT, if your fix is working and no more water is coming in, and the window itself has not rotted (other than the sill you fixed), I would be inclined to leave it and see. I know it'd be a pain to fix the rest (sistering good studs to old and so on) and then have to open it back up later if more leaks occurred, but...I'm not a fan of spending money I may not absolutely need to spend, and for me, my labor is free!
You may want to fix with sistered studs and so on and even new insulation, and then screw something like prefinished "wood" paneling under the window and leave that for a year to make sure everything is fine (while still having fairly easy access to the inside of the wall). If everything is copasthetic, fasten the paneling more permanently or take it off and drywall.
Even if it leaks again, (while you still have the wall panel allowing access) you should see evidence of it before it gets bad enough to require opening the floor up and replacing joists and stuff again.
I have found that Great Stuff works well to insulate under formerly leaking windows (though it can take quite a bit--and I had already put in drywall before I squirted it in through holes and so couldn't tell when to stop--so when it expanded, it bowed the drywall--you don't want that to happen! If you foam it in before replacing the drywall, should be no problem--rasp down the x.s. before you drywall. Or just use fiberglass.
One more thing; caulk may work, just check it annually to make sure it's still there and not cracking or pulling away. Better would be to put in flashing under it. The self adhering rubberized stuff is good (Vycor). But if it wasn't flashed, just caulk may be okay, but, like I said, check it often for potential leaks.
Kind of depends how many times you want to go through this
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