Hi - I have been battling with intermittent leak for almost 6 years now, due to the intermittent nature it is very hard to determine where the leak is coming from and also if any work done to fix the problem has had any effect.
The leak is above the frame of a ground floor window in a 1906 semi. The window is in the west facing gable wall which is extremely exposed to the weather. During winter the gable is frequently lashed with driving rain and it is only during winter weather that the leak occurs. The history of the issue and what we have done is as follows:
On the day we moved into the house in February 2014 during a period of very wet weather we first spotted the leak. It was emerging from the wooden internal architrave above the window opening which was flush with the internal wall. The leak went from a drip-drip to almost pouring in during a particularly heavy downpour. We looked outside and could see the stone lintel immediately above the window frame was poorly pointed, we got up on ladders and could actually push a screwdriver down the left hand side of the lintel. We therefore re pointed around the side of the lintel and we had no more leaks for the rest of 2014 - problem fixed?
During winter of 2014-2015 the leak returned, this time in a slightly different location and less severe, dripping water emerged across one side of the top of the window frame. Close to the first leak location but this time immediately above the face of the window.
I got a builder out who was not very keen but he went up a ladder and claimed to see some issue with the pointing above the top of the lintel, for free he applied some silicone sealant to the top of the lintel and said we needed to point it properly. This had no effect and I called the guy back but he had no interest.
I then spotted that the rendered 1st floor section was showing some defects immediately above the lintel. While the underlying render seemed solid the surface pebble dashing and many layers of point had blown with moss growing behind. Being immediately above the leak location and at the base of the first floor rendered section I considered if this might have been allowing water running down the wall to enter the render at this point and get in to the wall above the lintel. I did what I could to patch up the flaking pebble dash for the 2015-2016 winter but it leaked again during extended wet periods.
During 2017 we had the house repainted including the render, lintel and window frame. The painter scraped off the loose pebble dash layer immediately above the window and repainted directly onto the underlying render. A bit of a bodge but looked fine from ground level.
Success
!! The winter of 2017-2018 passed with no visible leaks!
Winter 2018-2019 the leak returned. Up on a ladder I could see that the paint applied to the defective rendered sections had blown, I concluded it had lasted a year and water had penetrated again so I decided to do something more fundamental and had a series of rendering companies out to look, I could see that there appeared to be a repair line running along the base of the render approx 0.5 m above the ledge all along the gable.
I had this section of render cut out and replaced back to the brick hoping it would cure the issue for good. Sadly this week the leak returned absolutely no different to before the work was done. Im really pulling my hair out over this which has been going on for far too long now.
Ive attached pictures of the window and would appreciate any thoughts, the work down so far would indicate that defective render at the base of the 1st floor level was not a source of the leak at least, which leaves me with the following possibilities:
1) Water is entering the gable wall cavity somewhere above the repaired section and running down to the window opening. Would this not lead to damp problems in the wall above the window? The leak is confined to the window frame opening, even immediately above the window frame internally there is no evidence whatsover of damp or anywhere else in the wall. Fix - re render the whole gable end?
2) Water is being driven through the lintel and/or brickwork and ledge immediately above the lintel and entering the window frame. Fix - check all pointing, re paint lintel, yearly?
3) Water is penetrating the window frame directly. Fix - re seal around window frame.
I must admit we havent considered #3 before as other defects above the opening were more obvious, looking at the window it is fitted with external architraves very flush to the opening without any obvious sealant used. Its hard to know if water could penetrate but applying window frame sealant around the edge is something perhaps we should have done right at the start. I will get this done asap at least to rule out this possibility.
Ive attached numerous pictures:
- Showing rainwater dripping down exterior.
- Window, with lintel and brick ledge above. Render repair visible as unpainted section.
Closeup of top edge of external windowframe.
Closeup of top of lintel and ledge.
Internal leak location.
Looking up the wall.
The leak is above the frame of a ground floor window in a 1906 semi. The window is in the west facing gable wall which is extremely exposed to the weather. During winter the gable is frequently lashed with driving rain and it is only during winter weather that the leak occurs. The history of the issue and what we have done is as follows:
On the day we moved into the house in February 2014 during a period of very wet weather we first spotted the leak. It was emerging from the wooden internal architrave above the window opening which was flush with the internal wall. The leak went from a drip-drip to almost pouring in during a particularly heavy downpour. We looked outside and could see the stone lintel immediately above the window frame was poorly pointed, we got up on ladders and could actually push a screwdriver down the left hand side of the lintel. We therefore re pointed around the side of the lintel and we had no more leaks for the rest of 2014 - problem fixed?
During winter of 2014-2015 the leak returned, this time in a slightly different location and less severe, dripping water emerged across one side of the top of the window frame. Close to the first leak location but this time immediately above the face of the window.
I got a builder out who was not very keen but he went up a ladder and claimed to see some issue with the pointing above the top of the lintel, for free he applied some silicone sealant to the top of the lintel and said we needed to point it properly. This had no effect and I called the guy back but he had no interest.
I then spotted that the rendered 1st floor section was showing some defects immediately above the lintel. While the underlying render seemed solid the surface pebble dashing and many layers of point had blown with moss growing behind. Being immediately above the leak location and at the base of the first floor rendered section I considered if this might have been allowing water running down the wall to enter the render at this point and get in to the wall above the lintel. I did what I could to patch up the flaking pebble dash for the 2015-2016 winter but it leaked again during extended wet periods.
During 2017 we had the house repainted including the render, lintel and window frame. The painter scraped off the loose pebble dash layer immediately above the window and repainted directly onto the underlying render. A bit of a bodge but looked fine from ground level.
Success
!! The winter of 2017-2018 passed with no visible leaks!Winter 2018-2019 the leak returned
. Up on a ladder I could see that the paint applied to the defective rendered sections had blown, I concluded it had lasted a year and water had penetrated again so I decided to do something more fundamental and had a series of rendering companies out to look, I could see that there appeared to be a repair line running along the base of the render approx 0.5 m above the ledge all along the gable.I had this section of render cut out and replaced back to the brick hoping it would cure the issue for good. Sadly this week the leak returned absolutely no different to before the work was done. Im really pulling my hair out over this which has been going on for far too long now.
Ive attached pictures of the window and would appreciate any thoughts, the work down so far would indicate that defective render at the base of the 1st floor level was not a source of the leak at least, which leaves me with the following possibilities:
1) Water is entering the gable wall cavity somewhere above the repaired section and running down to the window opening. Would this not lead to damp problems in the wall above the window? The leak is confined to the window frame opening, even immediately above the window frame internally there is no evidence whatsover of damp or anywhere else in the wall. Fix - re render the whole gable end?
2) Water is being driven through the lintel and/or brickwork and ledge immediately above the lintel and entering the window frame. Fix - check all pointing, re paint lintel, yearly?
3) Water is penetrating the window frame directly. Fix - re seal around window frame.
I must admit we havent considered #3 before as other defects above the opening were more obvious, looking at the window it is fitted with external architraves very flush to the opening without any obvious sealant used. Its hard to know if water could penetrate but applying window frame sealant around the edge is something perhaps we should have done right at the start. I will get this done asap at least to rule out this possibility.
Ive attached numerous pictures:
