As who owns a home repair company, I’ve seen a truly alarming trend of homeowners reporting window leaks. These leaks often result from improperly installed windows or poor construction techniques that prompt the need for expensive, premature repairs. The following article reveals the warning signs that many homeowners will use to determine should they have a life-threatening window leak.
Tell-Tale Signs of a Window LeakVisible moisture for the interior of your house in the vicinity of a window is often a rather obvious sign of a window leak. But often there are many insidious window leaks whose symptoms take far longer to recognize. Unfortunately, these symptoms arise after significant damage has occurred. The description (photos through link following this short article) will allow you to spot those problems before they can cost your 1000s of dollars in preventable home repairs.
Case Study on the Damage from Leaking Windows
To illustrate how a small, insidious window leak may cause enormous frustration for the homeowner, let’s examine an incident study a newly released client that we helped in Amelia, Ohio-a a suburb of Cincinnati. This home was ready for 8 years, and like many tract homes built in the Cincinnati area, have 2-story great rooms with windows composing high of the exterior wall. While this is a wonderful architectural feature, the vinyl siding and construction techniques used in these homes do not generally prevent a large wall of windows like this from leaking.
The homeowner reports fighting window leaks in this part of the home since shortly after purchase and shows that the builder could not resolve the situation. Also, her neighbors get each year similar problems. While one can’t automatically conclude that there is often a common building defect during these homes, it is a clue that will lead any home repair professional toward examining the flashing or window installation quality.
Window Leaks Often the Result of Inferior ConstructionIn true on this homeowner, her window leaks include the response to improperly flashed windows and the deficiency of house wrap. Flashing is simply materials to shed water away from areas particularly at risk of water intrusion. House wrap is what it sounds like-a material that covers the wood sheeting and prevents any water that sneaks in behind the brick or siding from soaking the wood it “wraps.”
From the photographs (link at end of the article) you can view what sort of absence of proper window flashing and house wrap has allowed water to get in and rot your wood round the windows while causing significant drywall and insulation damage. More alarming will be the mold growth about the wood framing and drywall around the windows in the home. Aside from the annoyance of water being released the home during a thunderstorm, mold growth presents an unacceptable health concern on the family living inside.
If You Suspect a Window is LeakingIf you believe or witness a window that is certainly leaking, there are numerous actions you can take to help you your property repair professional with diagnosing and resolving the challenge. During the next rain event, contemplate the following questions and note your observations:
Does the question always leak if it rains? Or does it only leak during a heavy rain shower? Does your window leak when the rain has been driven by the wind coming from a particular direction? How long has your window been leaking? Can you identify any event linked to the first time you noticed the question leak? (i.e. significant storm, ice event, extreme winds, etc.) Has the leak worsened? Or has it remained consistent with time? Have you attempted to stop the leak? If so, what has been done? Has that helped? If you can obtain this info, discover who built your own home and in the event, it was constructed.
Help With Window Leaks
To learn about how you can recognize the symptoms of window leaks in your home, see the video and pictures linked to this article at:
