Damp areas discovered

[TonyWarrington]

Just starting to renovate a mid terraced property and have discovered so far a couple of damp areas after removing some of the wallpaper.


View media item 13565Although it does not show on the pic the yellow painted area was also damp. The right hand wall is adjoining next door property. Investigating outside revealed this:
View media item 13566Pointing virtually none existent (at least next to window frame) can get finger in behind silicone beading (again badly done does not seal to brickwork). Not had any previous experience of damp but I am guessing that water is getting through the pointing and under the silicone beading - do you think that this is most likely cause of damp seen inside?
The double glazing was fitted by a FENSA registered company within the last couple of years. What liability do you think the company have to repair and make good?


View media item 13567The second area is to the left side of the window (from inside), the door shown far left leads into the kitchen

View media item 13568Whoever fitted the grey downpipe did a pretty crap job IMO! The brickwork has been chopped away at the top to house the grey box (sure there will be technical term for this ). The grey pipe then runs down the wall under the doorstep and is fed to the drain for the kitchen sink!
Once again I am assuming that this area is the most likely culprit for water ingress - what do you think?

 

[Alastairreid]

the first pic certainly appears to be the pointing which needs raking out and redone, then re silicone around the utility board.
i dont think the window fitters have any recourse on this one imo as it seems to be the pointing which is the issue.
i would check the pointing and gutters further up as well.

the 2nd pic i would remove the box/ hopper reinstate the brickwork and re-configure the outlet, seems to be an awfull lot of water going into the hopper thats why the slate has been put there to stop the water splashing over.

i would also take a look at re-routing that pipe running into the gutter from above (if possible).

dont think any of the work is anything major just has'nt been done properly from the start. (apart from the pointing which is a maintenance issue).

whats the strap of wood attached to the lintel for ? holding up the beading below the cast og gutter methinks. check the inside of the gutter as well as these things tend to rust away from the back.
when those wallhead og cast gutters start to corrode the water goes down the cavity and shows internaly as opposed to running down the outer face of the building.

 

[TonyWarrington]

Thanks for the reply and confirming that damp likely to be caused by the condition of the pointing on the first pic.

Take your point about the pointing being the issue and therefore window fitters should not be blamed, I still feel however in this instance that it is a shoddy job. Having now checked on date of original installation it is now apparent that the job completed November 08. Promises were made of a good job with draft proof and proper sealing of frames!

I can stick my finger all the way through the wall (many gaps) between the brick and silicone. Therefore IMO the job should have either been refused by the company (fat chance of that -company loosing £3k for a few windows!) in question or done properly with the pointing defects rectified by the installer during the install process. To be fair I am going to contact the installation company to get their take on this before becoming Mr Angry

Worst case scenario is for me to strip of the silicone, rake out and repoint then fill in any gaps with expanding foam finally re apply silicone - does this sound OK?

Once again thanks for the advice about removing the hopper and reinstating the brickwork. The pipe running into the gutter from above from the rainwater gutter above the second floor - this is a communal run for all the terraced property.

The gutter at this lower level I suspect is in need of replacement anyway- I am getting a builder in to do a couple of jobs therefore I will probably get him to undertake to improve this at the same time.

 

[Alastairreid]

Worst case scenario is for me to strip of the silicone, rake out and repoint then fill in any gaps with expanding foam finally re apply silicone - does this sound OK?

sounds good to me! good luck with that tony.