Nightmare Window Leak - No Mortar on Lintel, What Now?

[Kingo206]

Hi everyone,

I'm at my wit's end with builders and contractors. We recently had a window installed, but it's leaking badly during heavy rain. The window itself seems fine, but I believe the issue lies with the lintel installation.

The builders created the opening and put in a lintel, but it looks like they didn't use any mortar to secure it (see attached photos). Ffs, I'm so frustrated with having to constantly deal with shoddy workmanship.

I guess the proper fix is to remove the window, take out the lintel, and reinstall it with mortar. But getting all the involved parties back here is going to prove difficult now that they've received their money.

Has anyone else experienced this? What are my options? Can I somehow fix this without removing the window? Any advice on dealing with the builders and getting them to take responsibility would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[23vc]

Mastic the gap between intel and brick and see if it fixes it
Can’t see any sign of a cavity tray above though, which may be a further issue

 

[JohnD]

Is water running down the wall from a spilling gutter or something?

 

[crank39]

Cavity tray, did they install one?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Can’t see any sign of a cavity tray above though, which may be a further issue

...or weep vents.
I would expect a build-up something like...

 

[23vc]

Yeah, that’s what I meant. Although it’s still a quick win for the OP to just seal that obvious gap, more likely that than some huge torrent coming down the cavity

 

[crank39]

If there's a window above then I'd be checking that for areas for water ingress, failing that check the gutter for blockage or even pushing up some roof tiles to check the condition of the felt, old bitumen that once lapped into the gutter can and will rot and that creeps upwards until the felt drops down behind the fascia and could allow water into the cavity

It's not even a proper lintel but rather 10mm thick flat steel, they'll definitely be no cavity tray because looking at the mortar above it's not been repointed so no bricks were removed, they've just chased out the mortar at each end and slid the flat steel in