Leak above oriel window

[Abyone]

Hi

I have a leak above my oriel window, its dripping in on outer leaf edge of lintel.
After weeks and months of investigations I believe the situation is as follows.

The original build had a DPC from inner leaf exiting one course of brick on outler leaf above the window but no weep holes.
This can be seen in the boroscope photo.
The builder then inserted a tray, 2 courses above the window with weep holes. Can see back of tray in boroscope photo. The flashing for window was inserted below the tray. ( Not sure if it was always at this level or not, it could originally have been one course above window where DPC is but that is irrelevant now)

The tray only extends about 10-20mm behind the inner leaf and unfortunatley it looks like it doesnt span the full width of the window lintel.

There is water dripping from the outler (brick) side of the lintel bottom edge directly above my window when i get persistent rain on that wall.

To fix it I am thinking I should install a new DPC that connects into the tray or at least into the brick course at tray level above the flashing on top of my window.
However this would involve removing bricks from the wall.
Is this a big deal ? The span is quite wide. Ideally I'd like to do it all in one piece but that would mean supporting the wall and with the window sticking out I am not sure if its possible to only support fom outside.
Alternativley I guess I could remove 3-4 bricks at a time and build an overlapping DPC.
A standard type e cavity tray with rasied overlapping edges wont work becasue my joints are quite wide and they are designed for 10mm joints.

I had a couple of builders out to look and both of them are shying away from removing bricks individually - they even suggested taking down the whole wall as far as the window.
The bricks arent being made anymore so any bricks removed would have to be reused.
I am happy to repoint the whole wall at the end to reomve any patchwork in the mortar.

An Alternative plan I have is to leave the leak but insert a tray below the lintel and either direct the leak out to the front of window or to the sides of the window down the cavity. Would this be viable ? It would save dismantling the wall but instead I'd dismantle the top of the window.



Welcome your thoughts.

EDIT - I am getting the coping on top of the wall replaced regardless as can be seen in photo however I an confident the leak is from the wall face and not the top as I have copered the face in plastic and then there is no leak. I have observed some micro cracks in the mortar joints so will probably get the whole wall repointed anyway however with brick I believe water ingress is always a possibility so want to have a solution that is designed correctly.

 

[blup]

It must be possible to acro tne wall above, and inspect tne lintel and tray, replacing or repairing as necessary. But it may be more certain price wise (for you and the builder) to replace the wall as suggested.

 

[Abyone]

It must be possible to acro tne wall above, and inspect tne lintel and tray, replacing or repairing as necessary. But it may be more certain price wise (for you and the builder) to replace the wall as suggested.

I would have thought it's far more work to take down the wall brick by brick and replace brick by brick.
These bricks are not sold anymore so they have to be reused if taken out.

But regardless of acrow or not, the question remains as to whether I can address the issue from inside with a tray above window as opposed to inside the cavity wall.

 

[blup]

As i understand it You are preventing moisture getting through to the inner wall so a tray or a heath robinson equivalent

 

[noseall]

Hi

I have a leak above my oriel window, its dripping in on outer leaf edge of lintel.
After weeks and months of investigations I believe the situation is as follows.

The original build had a DPC from inner leaf exiting one course of brick on outler leaf above the window but no weep holes.
This can be seen in the boroscope photo.
The builder then inserted a tray, 2 courses above the window with weep holes. Can see back of tray in boroscope photo. The flashing for window was inserted below the tray. ( Not sure if it was always at this level or not, it could originally have been one course above window where DPC is but that is irrelevant now)

The tray only extends about 10-20mm behind the inner leaf and unfortunatley it looks like it doesnt span the full width of the window lintel.

There is water dripping from the outler (brick) side of the lintel bottom edge directly above my window when i get persistent rain on that wall.

To fix it I am thinking I should install a new DPC that connects into the tray or at least into the brick course at tray level above the flashing on top of my window.
However this would involve removing bricks from the wall.
Is this a big deal ? The span is quite wide. Ideally I'd like to do it all in one piece but that would mean supporting the wall and with the window sticking out I am not sure if its possible to only support fom outside.
Alternativley I guess I could remove 3-4 bricks at a time and build an overlapping DPC.
A standard type e cavity tray with rasied overlapping edges wont work becasue my joints are quite wide and they are designed for 10mm joints.

I had a couple of builders out to look and both of them are shying away from removing bricks individually - they even suggested taking down the whole wall as far as the window.
The bricks arent being made anymore so any bricks removed would have to be reused.
I am happy to repoint the whole wall at the end to reomve any patchwork in the mortar.

An Alternative plan I have is to leave the leak but insert a tray below the lintel and either direct the leak out to the front of window or to the sides of the window down the cavity. Would this be viable ? It would save dismantling the wall but instead I'd dismantle the top of the window.



Welcome your thoughts.

EDIT - I am getting the coping on top of the wall replaced regardless as can be seen in photo however I an confident the leak is from the wall face and not the top as I have copered the face in plastic and then there is no leak. I have observed some micro cracks in the mortar joints so will probably get the whole wall repointed anyway however with brick I believe water ingress is always a possibility so want to have a solution that is designed correctly.

What insulation do you have in the cavity?

 

[Abyone]

What insulation do you have in the cavity?

Not sure specifically but it's sheets of cavity wall insulation fitted together to the inner leaf.

 

[noseall]

Not sure specifically but it's sheets of cavity wall insulation fitted together to the inner leaf.

Gotcha - partial fill.

Have you experimented with a hose pipe, i.e. squirting water in specific locations?

 

[Abyone]

Gotcha - partial fill.

Have you experimented with a hose pipe, i.e. squirting water in specific locations?

Indeed I have!

I have to do more testing.

I am now wondering if the tray/window flashing is two courses above the window is it possible water can get in at the side beneath the tray?
I sprayed the yellow patch on the plastic and the water obviously dropped down.
The two red lines indicate the bricks below the tray but above the lintel.( Purple is pointing to where lintel is - two courses beneath flashing)
Could water soak through those bricks and get into lintel?

I observed the leak forming in real time and its coming from behind the lintel definitely not down the face of the brick via the flashing.