Testing the end results (window replacement)
After fives years of natural testing of various shade-tree mechanic repairs by fly by nighters, I got a double window replaced. The mill shop made the custom double-window and was responsible for installing it. This project included mason work as the installer had to install through-flashing as well as pan flashing. This was something the builder missed, and the county building inspector missed as well. They started on Tuesday and removed the existing window set. They then removed the necessary brick. After doing this, it was revealed the evidence I had been looking for during the past five years. Looking at the stud wall opening (sill-plate), you can clearly see where the original window’s sill had failed. Water staining dead-center at the OSB sheathing’s leading edge marked where water was getting in and running down the stud wall. They proceeded to install the pan and through flashing materials, let it sit, and came back on Wednesday to reset the brick. I wasn’t concerned with matching mortar and they did a good job not trashing any brick. And while it rained here yesterday afternoon, it was too light and not on the front of the home to be a true test of the elements. Remembering back in time, this 2nd story bedroom window set was the second identified location of water infiltration that caused the drywall ceiling in the study below to drop during the 2004 hurricane Ivan fiasco. Previously, I replaced the deckless standing seam metal roof cap that was on the study’s bay window with a professionally installed deck and properly flashed and counter-flashed metal cap. These two repairs, if provien to continue to be water tight, will allow me to test the third infiltration location which got repaired in 2006. This testing has been a long time coming. The section of ceiling in the study and the wall in below the bedroom window set on the second floor have been exposed for years. Why drywall if water is going to drop it again? I am thinking about breaking out the garden hose and watering down the new window set. Maybe tomorrow, or on Tuesday. Previously I could not ‘present’ water for testing above the 2nd floor bedroom window brick sill before it would leak. Now I want to test above the entire new window set and onward up to the Cornice (or Greek) return. Any suggestions?
Replies
Any photos of this removal / reinstallation in progress? I'd be interested in seeing the pan and flashing details used, and how they relate to the brick. You can perform a down-n-dirty water test on a window using a garden hose with a sprinkler on it. Put a stepladder in front of the window and drape the hose over it so that water is hitting the window. Start low, let it run a while, and inspect from inside. Sometimes it's useful to tape plastic to various areas to isolate them. You aren't really simulating storm conditions by doing this but it can still be useful. If you can set up a big fan to pull air out of the room you should so that, the vacuum helps things leak.
Wait another week or so before you subject the mortar to a hard spray of water, to give it more time to cure. But in the interim dampen it down every few days.
Ok, so last weekend I did a test and got water coming into the study below. The study is below the bedroom for which this window was replaced.
The bay window metal cap was replaced 2-3 years earlier, but it would appear that it is leaking again. This cap was a replacement to the builder's POS that was never flashed or counter-flashed.
So, now i have to find a person that knows how to craft metal and address the brick-face flashing for the cap. The windows upstairs appears to be water-tight.
Nuke,
This has been a real
Nuke,
This has been a real ongoing struggle for you. I can't believe there isn't someone in that area from Breaktime that couldn't give you a hand figuring this out. There's no excuse for it considering the scope and breadth of the knowledge here.
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Well, that is there used to be.
The carpenters that installed the new windows gave me contact for someone that he claims is real good. I sent an email to him this morning along with my contact information. If I hear nothing by 10AM I'll call him.
Amusing thing is he refers to himself as The Yankee Tradesman! If i Google this I get results for Maine and Georgia. :)
Maybe it's not leaking where
Maybe it's not leaking where you think it's leaking.
Dan, if I hoist the garden hose up to the 2nd story bedroom, lean out the window with it, set the spray to shower to mimic rainfall, place it below the 2nd story bedroom window and above the 1st story bay window metal cap, the only water entering is observed on the exterior surface of the brick.
Specifically, if you are standing in the study, under the bay window looking up into the metal cap cavity, which now has a roof deck (structure), the two locations are where the metal cap's center section and sides meet at the top.
These two locations would be the ends of the counter-flashing. Let me attach a couple of pictures (c2 & c9) from the new cap's original post-install. The c9 picture was when I first tested the new cap and it was leaking. They added a piece to the ends, riveted in and caulked. Was water tight for some time.
Hmm, I cannot load two images on the same post.
Nuke, I can't tell from the
Nuke, I can't tell from the pictures but were these counter flashing's cut into the brick? If they (all three) were merely nailed or tapconned onto the surface-that could leak about every other seasonal change.
My advice after or b/4 you talk to the Yankee, seek out seeyou or sphere and show them as many pictures as they ask for.
Best of luck.
Yes, the two flashings were cut into the brick. The original metal cap was not, and is why I replaced it. If the weather clears up I'll take some new pictures and post them. Those are old pictures taken right after the replacement cap was put on.