Leaking front door frame

[CortinaV8]

I had an expensive front door fitted into an arched opening over summer, seemed fine until the bad weather came along and now it's started leaking badly around the frame.

It seems to leak at numerous points around the frame from about handle height downwards.

I've had the installers out so many times it's not funny, the latest idea they have is that water is leaking down the cavity wall and running down the sides of the frame. Might be believable if the the wall was even a cavity wall and the head of the frame was damp which it is not.

Just really after some idea on what to check, what I think is happening is water is getting in via the seal on the top light above the door and running down into the frame until it reaches the screw holes where the frame is screwed to the wall, where the water is coming out of and making the plaster damp.

The outside has been siliconed to death so it can't get getting in there, and certainly not penetrating 5 inches deep to get to the plaster anyhow.

 

[crank39]

what I think is happening is water is getting in via the seal on the top light above the door and running down into the frame until it reaches the screw holes where the frame is screwed to the wall, where the water is coming out of and making the plaster damp.

Sounds plausible, has the frame been drained, is it face drained or concealed, does it have a cill at the bottom?

 

[^woody^]

If that is a cavity wall, and the frame set too far forward so that the vertical DPC is behind the plaster, then you wont stop the dampness. Even if a solid wall, the same thing can occur if the frame is too far forward.

Significant amounts of water should not be getting into the frame to cause that problem.

It seems like a faulty installation and it may need taking out and refitting not just attacked with a tube a silicone

 

[CortinaV8]

Crank39 - Was hoping you would comment, the only drainage is in the threshold and the two side windows. It's face drained and there is no cill, the door is fitted almost flush with the outside brickwork.

Woody - I'm interested in your opinion also, I though or more to the point would have expected the door to be dropped back a couple of inches into the opening, in fact I have mentioned this in my last conversation with the company.

The wall isn't cavity, 100% sure on that, the annoying thing is I originally got a supply only quote but for the "warranty" they needed to fit it, still I have a Fensa certificate here in case I run out of bog paper.

 

[crank39]

You could if you wanted take the side light out and drill a series of small holes below the damp patch as though you were fixing the frame, this would show if there any water within the chamber, other than that i would want it re-fitting, at the same time i'd chop the plaster back an inch too.

Sorry if im no help this time

 

[masona]

Any outside photo's?

 

[CortinaV8]

There you go.

 

[crank39]

I reckon you have some capillary action somewhere, at a guess id say water is running under the keystone and above the frame, i'd love to get on site and get my teeth into this, my type of job

 

[Mw Roofline]

I had an expensive front door

Mate don't get me wrong its a mint job and the arching really adds to the cost but they could have matched the door slab colour up to the window profile a bit better

 

[CortinaV8]

MW - Roofline - 100% agree, again another issue I have brought up with the company to no avail, to be fair any door with an arched frame seems to cost a fair amount of money, it seems you are held to ransom by the few companies who actually have the forming equipment.

Crank - I did suspect the keystone, I raked out and repointed which made no difference, every time we get heavy rain the patches appear again!

 

[crank39]

If you are ok with taking the beads out then take out the toplight and see if theres water sat in the profile, its a long shot but water could get past the gasket, especially the corners, it can sit in the bead channel and run to the corners and then down within the chamber then exposing itself where the fixings are