Leza Wang's problem with her door could be the tip of the iceberg. I
don't think many people realize the standard metal clad entry doors
like Leza's are not completely water tight. If rain is running down
the door it is probably leaking into the house at the corners of the
threshold.

Two of my neighbors, like myself built our own houses. They are out at
the lake in cottage country and were built as retirement homes. In all
three cases we were living in the houses long before they were finished.

What all three of us found was the outside doors leaked at the bottom
of the thresholds. Not much but you could see the dampness in the
plywood subfloor at the edges of the thresholds. If the floor was
finished you probably would not see anything. The water would seep in
under the finished floor and sit there.

Obviously not a good situation. We installed storm doors and that
solved the problem. I still haven't finished the floors in my house
and have never seen any leakage since installing the storm doors.

I found the same problem in my sons house. There was no indication of
leakage but when you probed around there was water under the vinyl
flooring by the threshold. Again the problem was solved with a storm
door.

If you have a single outside door without a storm door protecting it,
check the area around the threshold after it has been raining on the
door or soak the door down with a hose. Water has to be running down
the door for the leak to happen.


LdB

LdB wrote:
Leza Wang's problem with her door could be the tip of the iceberg. I
don't think many people realize the standard metal clad entry doors like
Leza's are not completely water tight. If rain is running down the door
it is probably leaking into the house at the corners of the threshold.

Two of my neighbors, like myself built our own houses. They are out at
the lake in cottage country and were built as retirement homes. In all
three cases we were living in the houses long before they were finished.

What all three of us found was the outside doors leaked at the bottom of
the thresholds. Not much but you could see the dampness in the plywood
subfloor at the edges of the thresholds. If the floor was finished you
probably would not see anything. The water would seep in under the
finished floor and sit there.

Obviously not a good situation. We installed storm doors and that solved
the problem. I still haven't finished the floors in my house and have
never seen any leakage since installing the storm doors.

I found the same problem in my sons house. There was no indication of
leakage but when you probed around there was water under the vinyl
flooring by the threshold. Again the problem was solved with a storm door.

If you have a single outside door without a storm door protecting it,
check the area around the threshold after it has been raining on the
door or soak the door down with a hose. Water has to be running down the
door for the leak to happen.


LdB


Hmmm,
Every house I had built and lived in had a porch and storm door as well.
No such problem ever occured. If installed properly I can't
see that kinda problem happening.

On Sun, 07 Jul 2013 13:53:51 -0500, LdB wrote:

Leza Wang's problem with her door could be the tip of the iceberg. I
don't think many people realize the standard metal clad entry doors
like Leza's are not completely water tight. If rain is running down
the door it is probably leaking into the house at the corners of the
threshold.

Two of my neighbors, like myself built our own houses. They are out at
the lake in cottage country and were built as retirement homes. In all
three cases we were living in the houses long before they were finished.

What all three of us found was the outside doors leaked at the bottom
of the thresholds. Not much but you could see the dampness in the
plywood subfloor at the edges of the thresholds. If the floor was
finished you probably would not see anything. The water would seep in
under the finished floor and sit there.

Obviously not a good situation. We installed storm doors and that
solved the problem. I still haven't finished the floors in my house
and have never seen any leakage since installing the storm doors.

I found the same problem in my sons house. There was no indication of
leakage but when you probed around there was water under the vinyl
flooring by the threshold. Again the problem was solved with a storm
door.

Do your or your son's doors have interlocking metal weatherstippring
under the door. ? My metal threshhold has a fairly deep channel
from one end to the other, that opens horizontally, inward, And the
door has a folded piece of metal weatherstripping underneath it. The
folded piece goes into the channel when the door shuts.

I t hink this was meant to keep out cold air in the winter, but I
think it keeps water out too.

This is a wood door. Is there any reason metal clad doors don't have
the same thing?

If you have a single outside door without a storm door protecting it,
check the area around the threshold after it has been raining on the
door or soak the door down with a hose. Water has to be running down
the door for the leak to happen.


LdB

On Sun, 07 Jul 2013 13:53:51 -0500, LdB wrote:

Leza Wang's problem with her door could be the tip of the iceberg. I
don't think many people realize the standard metal clad entry doors
like Leza's are not completely water tight. If rain is running down
the door it is probably leaking into the house at the corners of the
threshold.

Two of my neighbors, like myself built our own houses. They are out at
the lake in cottage country and were built as retirement homes. In all
three cases we were living in the houses long before they were finished.

What all three of us found was the outside doors leaked at the bottom
of the thresholds. Not much but you could see the dampness in the
plywood subfloor at the edges of the thresholds. If the floor was
finished you probably would not see anything. The water would seep in
under the finished floor and sit there.

Obviously not a good situation. We installed storm doors and that
solved the problem. I still haven't finished the floors in my house
and have never seen any leakage since installing the storm doors.

I found the same problem in my sons house. There was no indication of
leakage but when you probed around there was water under the vinyl
flooring by the threshold. Again the problem was solved with a storm
door.

If you have a single outside door without a storm door protecting it,
check the area around the threshold after it has been raining on the
door or soak the door down with a hose. Water has to be running down
the door for the leak to happen.


LdB


I use silicone caulk under door thresholds to seal out water and
drafts.

Beads placed like this: (two beads the length and one each along the
jamb. Set the threshold and step on it a tad.

]==============[

Using a hair drier (or air supply), one can check for leaks / drafts
under the threshold.

On 7/8/2013 9:28 AM, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 07 Jul 2013 13:53:51 -0500, LdB wrote:

Leza Wang's problem with her door could be the tip of the iceberg. I
don't think many people realize the standard metal clad entry doors
like Leza's are not completely water tight. If rain is running down
the door it is probably leaking into the house at the corners of the
threshold.

Two of my neighbors, like myself built our own houses. They are out at
the lake in cottage country and were built as retirement homes. In all
three cases we were living in the houses long before they were finished.

What all three of us found was the outside doors leaked at the bottom
of the thresholds. Not much but you could see the dampness in the
plywood subfloor at the edges of the thresholds. If the floor was
finished you probably would not see anything. The water would seep in
under the finished floor and sit there.

Obviously not a good situation. We installed storm doors and that
solved the problem. I still haven't finished the floors in my house
and have never seen any leakage since installing the storm doors.

I found the same problem in my sons house. There was no indication of
leakage but when you probed around there was water under the vinyl
flooring by the threshold. Again the problem was solved with a storm
door.

If you have a single outside door without a storm door protecting it,
check the area around the threshold after it has been raining on the
door or soak the door down with a hose. Water has to be running down
the door for the leak to happen.


LdB


I use silicone caulk under door thresholds to seal out water and
drafts.

Beads placed like this: (two beads the length and one each along the
jamb. Set the threshold and step on it a tad.

]==============[

Using a hair drier (or air supply), one can check for leaks / drafts
under the threshold.



I caulked the threshold when I installed the door. The door frame and
threshold are well sealed. The water was getting in as it ran down
into the corners of the door. Somehow it seeped in through the cracks
between the door, the door frame and threshold at the bottom corners
of the door.

If you look at a door you can see the corners are not watertight.
Heavy rain, some wind, waters ability to wick through small cracks and
you have water on the inside.

I've seen many new homes without storm doors. It seems to have become
the style over the years . Even in older houses when a new metal door
is installed the old storm door is history and is rarely replaced with
a new one.

As I said, the storm doors solved mine as well as my son's and
neighbor's problems.

The purpose of my original post was to alert those people that do not
have outside storm doors that there may be some water getting in. It
doesn't take much time to check. You won't see the dampness on the
floor surface but will have to probe down to the subfloor in the areas
around the outside door threshold. Especially near the corners.

If water is not getting in then that's great. If it is getting in you
can do something about it. Seems to me that it is a minor problem that
could go unnoticed for many years. Eventually the floor and door frame
will start rotting and may continue do so for some time.

As a footnote, I built the new house from the foundation up and did as
good a job of insulating and sealing it as I could. It was built over
code and I had lots of time to work on it. The result is the most
comfortable house I have ever lived in. No cold areas or drafts even
in minus 40 deg. temperatures. The house is 100% electric. I don't use
any supplementary form of heating. My total electric bill today is
lower than the natural gas heating bill was in my old 1950's bungalow
and the new house is over double the size and triple the window area.
If you are in an older house then look for every possible way to
upgrade. It will pay off in heating and A/C costs, also in comfort.
Not only that but you can put your wife in charge of the thermostat
without any worry. Think on that one for a while.

LdB