Leak in wall cavity above the front door.

[AverageHandyman-Sam]

Been in my house a year. This morning we have started going through a period of driving rain on my east facing wall (front of house) as a result got a pretty steady drip coming through the cavity by the front door in the small gap between the lintel and door.

I’m lost on what to do. There are weep holes above the door but I don’t think the rain is getting in them, other than that I am stumped and can’t think of a solution.

I’ve managed to get a picture of where it’s dripping from in the cavity and it looks like it’s coming off some plastic but again I have no idea what this is, nor how to fix it. Any ideas?

 

[Wayners]

Any drip tray in cavity?

 

[AverageHandyman-Sam]

I believe that’s what the black thing is in the image. It’s like a plastic membrane, thick but flexible it seems.
I’m no bricky or expert mind mate so could be wrong!

 

[ree]

OP,
How is water getting into the cavity is the first question? I can only guess its getting through the pointing or possibly from around the door sill? The pointing is re-pointing, its not original.

Perhaps, remove some bricks above the lintel, & expose the cavity tray - the cavity tray might have been badly fitted, and could be slightly filled with mortar droppings.
The cavity trays above the door lintel & the nearby window lintel might have been installed as one long cavity tray?
Once you have access to the cavity tray you could clean any droppings off, re-arrange it or change it - the cavity tray must have end stops, and weeps at either end.
How did you take the looking down the cavity pic?

 

[^woody^]

You may have a tray fitted, but it may be badly fitted hence the leak only when specific driving rain. That would be a difficult and costly thing to investigate, as it means taking the section of wall down.

For now, investigate the cill and frame perimeter sealant to the frame above. Sort out any possible gaps and entry points.

Then coat that section of brickwork above the door with a clear water repellent. I'd normally say use a quality saline product, but that would be relatively expensive. So in this case you can use a cheap tin of Thompsons, do a thorough job and see if the rectifies the situation.

 

[AverageHandyman-Sam]

I managed to pull the floor board up next to the balcony doors with the guard around as seen in the image above, it genuinely looks like the water is coming in the weep holes. I had a probe around with an endoscope which also made me think the same. I then had a look at the ‘fascia’ brickwork around it looks there might be a few potentials, missing mortar, pooling near the weep vents and the driving rain.

Images aren’t the clearest or easiest to explain on messages but i’m sure you guys will know more than me.

 

[ree]

OP,
Thanks for the new pics.
Cavity trays act as a kind of DPC with the weeps & the brickwork sitting on the lower lip.
#1 and #2 of the new pics appear to show a DPC line below the weeps as a Cavity tray lip might show but pic #4 shows a badly installed cavity tray installed above the weeps?
A hazy pic #4 appears to show slate doing what?
The lower cavity also appears to be a bit loaded with mortar droppings.

If you think its worth it then the only way to install the cavity tray correctly would be to do as I suggested above in post #4. To do that you might need the service of a builder?

Leaving your floorboard off - you could observe while someone else lightly sprayed - from low to high - the outer brickwork? Your camera, a flashlight & a small mirror would help.