can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner when it
rains. Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or outside. We have
steel siding and our builder came out and looked and said everything looked
fine. It gushed in the first time, but has been more of a seepage since (of
course it may have been raining harder the first time too .... I hadn't
really been paying attention. It's a sealed double pane window that doesn't
open. It's square on the bottom, but angled on top to follow the roof line.
The leak is in the corner with the longest vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? Thanks.
Lobo
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Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
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can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

On Aug 29, 12:42*am, "Lobo" wrote:
We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner when it
rains. *Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or outside. *We have
steel siding and our builder came out and looked and said everything looked
fine. *It gushed in the first time, but has been more of a seepage since (of
course it may have been raining harder the first time too .... I hadn't
really been paying attention. *It's a sealed double pane window that doesn't
open. *It's square on the bottom, but angled on top to follow the roof line.
The leak is in the corner with the longest vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? *Thanks.
Lobo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How old is the house, could the builder be stalling you till your
warranty expires. Mail your complaint registered or whatever proves he
has it. Its leaking you just have to look harder and fix it.

can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

On Aug 29, 12:42*am, "Lobo" wrote:
We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner when it
rains. *Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or outside. *We have
steel siding and our builder came out and looked and said everything looked
fine. *It gushed in the first time, but has been more of a seepage since (of
course it may have been raining harder the first time too .... I hadn't
really been paying attention. *It's a sealed double pane window that doesn't
open. *It's square on the bottom, but angled on top to follow the roof line.
The leak is in the corner with the longest vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? *Thanks.
Lobo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look above the room and work down, is it the attic, you should do this
when its raining, I took a hose and started low spraying water and
kept raising it until I found my leak was a window sill of a window I
put in. Any near invisible small crack can allow in alot of water
after a good rain. With metal siding the builder knows he may damage
siding to fix it right and just wants to avoid a big repair. It has to
be fixed, its the damage you cant see now that is the real long term
issue, like wood rot and mold.

can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

ransley wrote:
On Aug 29, 12:42 am, "Lobo" wrote:
We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner when it
rains. Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or outside. We have
steel siding and our builder came out and looked and said everything looked
fine. It gushed in the first time, but has been more of a seepage since (of
course it may have been raining harder the first time too .... I hadn't
really been paying attention. It's a sealed double pane window that doesn't
open. It's square on the bottom, but angled on top to follow the roof line.
The leak is in the corner with the longest vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? Thanks.
Lobo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How old is the house, could the builder be stalling you till your
warranty expires. Mail your complaint registered or whatever proves he
has it. Its leaking you just have to look harder and fix it.

Excellent advice. Start at the top of the house, inside and out, and
look for leaks in roof, fascia, soffits, siding, flashing, etc.
Photograph the problem. Get another contractor to look at it. Contact
the window mfg. and file a warranty claim - they probably have expert
installers who will look at the issue and likely find a cause.

In our condo, one unit had massive water intrusion - running out little
holes in ceiling where there were hooks for hanging plants - that looked
for all the world like a roof leak to the unintiated. The problem was a
fairly small gap in warped fascia.

How old is house? When did first leak appear? Was there high wind when
first "gusher" showed up? Have you inspected the exterior yourself,
esp. at the peak of the window?

can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

Probably nothing to do with the window itself, though you should
check for weep holes at the bottom of the window. The problem is
most likely installation, flashing of the opening, or shrunken or
missing "end dam" caulking in the subsill. The resolution will
require removing the window and CANNOT be solved by smearing more
caulk on the outside.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Lobo" wrote in message
. ..
We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner
when it rains. Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or
outside. We have steel siding and our builder came out and
looked and said everything looked fine. It gushed in the first
time, but has been more of a seepage since (of course it may
have been raining harder the first time too .... I hadn't really
been paying attention. It's a sealed double pane window that
doesn't open. It's square on the bottom, but angled on top to
follow the roof line. The leak is in the corner with the longest
vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? Thanks.
Lobo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

"Lobo" wrote in
:

We have a big window that leaks at the lower right hand corner when it
rains. Nothing appears to be open anywhere inside or outside. We
have steel siding and our builder came out and looked and said
everything looked fine. It gushed in the first time, but has been
more of a seepage since (of course it may have been raining harder the
first time too .... I hadn't really been paying attention. It's a
sealed double pane window that doesn't open. It's square on the
bottom, but angled on top to follow the roof line. The leak is in the
corner with the longest vertical side.

Any thoughts on how to find where the leak is? Thanks.
Lobo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delete the obvious to reply to me personally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Since it may or may not be the window my thoughts are if practical:

Cover it totally, including trim, from the outside with plastic and tape.
See if it leaks. If it does then obviously it's not the window.

You MAY be able to use a hose for the next part.

If it didn't leake above then uncover lower half and see if it leaks.
Depending on results, move it up or down 1/2 the distance of remainder in
question until you find it. Basically you're doing what's called a binary
search.

can't tell where window leak's coming from
 

There is no attic; the ceiling is peaked in the leaky window area.
The window is a big trapezoid (sort of) "picture window" that does not
open. It's above another big window that's a "picture" window on top
with 2 awning style windows on the bottom.. The house is 10 years
old. The only thing that might be a possibility is that the siding on
the fascia came loose this spring during a storm. It was loose from
the peak to about 4 feet down above the leaking window. I think the
replacement siding looks smaller.

The builder looked at it (and I will say I trust him) and is coming
back again today. I will suggest to him the idea about covering it
with plastic and blasting the area with a hose.

We had rain last night and this a.m. which hit the window directly and
it's still leaking. Doesn't seem to require high wind to leak,
although that makes it worse.
Lobo