I ran into a woman that had a 10k sq foot house which cost almost 2 million
bucks. 4 sides brick. All defectively installed. She was in talks with
the builder and had gotten an estimate to take down all the brick and put up
new brick for $100k. I explained to her if she found a mason able to do it
for $100k it will be just as defective as the current job.


"DanG" wrote in message
news:Braad.11499$Lo6.10359@fed1read03...
After reading through your problem, it sounds as if several errors
were made.

I think the permanent resolution to the problem will probably
involve removing the brick veneer, at least over the problem
windows. I suspect the roofing on the bays will need to come off
also.

Brick work is not meant to be water proof, or even very water
resistant. A well designed system has methods to deal with
moisture if and when it does get through the veneer. The weep
holes allow air into the cavity to dry out moisture. If they were
properly flashed with Nervastral or copper, water can be directed
out the weep holes. Flashing is a critical science.

The roofing can only function if the water is flashed out onto the
top of the roofing. It sounds as if when you get driving rain, it
can travel on top of the roofing and penetrate the building
envelope. Counter flashing (the stuff installed in the saw cut)
is more professional but does not stop your problem on its own,
there still needs to be something to prevent water on top of the
roof from being able to penetrate the envelope. Plastic roof
cement, though not attractive, can serve this function, at least
until if dries out.

If the water is penetrating the veneer above the bay window head,
it is not being flashed out of the building envelope. Stopping
the water from getting there will help, but not permanently cure.
If it is the sill of the window above, caulk should provide
temporary relief, but not a long term cure. The only permanent
cure that I can envision will involve opening up the window heads
on the outside to properly inspect and install the flashing
correctly.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Big Arn" none wrote in message
...
Hello,

We have had a problem in our 3 year old home for some time. Our
home
has a brick front, with two bay windows, each covered with an
extruded
metal roof. During windy, driving rain, the roofs would leak,
eventually causing water to enter the residence.

The metal bay window roofs are attached to the house with
roofing
cement. There was not line cut into the mortar, and the roofs /
flashing were not tucked into this line.

We cut drywall inside the house, allowing us to see the inside
of the
bay roofs. We can now water test and see where the water
enters.

The brick wall just above the left bay window has weepholes
installed
directly above the bay roofline. The brick wall above the right
bay
window had no weepholes installed (although the flashing was
there).
We notified the builder, who had the mason come and insert
weepholes.
These weepholes were placed a full course above the bay roofline
(as
that's where the flashing was).

The roofer has tried putting new roofing cement on, etc., but
when it
rains "just right" or when I water test it with a hose, we still
have
some water coming in.

He said that he could cut a line in the mortar above the right
bay
window, and tuck the flashing / roof into it, then put roofing
cement
on. But, he can't do this over the left, because the flashing /
weepholes are right above the roofline.

So, my first question is should the weepholes / flashing be
directly
above the bay window roof? Or, should they be one (or more)
courses
up?

Any suggestions for dealing with this problem?

Thank you very much.