Rain deflector above French doors?

Hennymore

When it rains, some water collects on top of our wooden French doors and then splashes down when the door opens. It was suggested to me that it seeps into the gap above the door through capillary action.

We moved in fairly recently and will probably replace the doors entirely at some point, since they have a few other issues. But until then, I thought I might install some sort of small canopy or deflector above the doors to redirect the water, but I'm not quite sure what to get or how best to install it. I've tried googling things like "weatherbar", "rain deflector" etc but I mostly seem to find instructions for those things you put at the bottom of a door.

So I'd love some advice here. Just put a piece of treated wood above the doors? Cut at an angle? Strip of silicone caulk behind it or something? A full-on big canopy would be more than I'm after. Ideally just something small that keeps most of the rain from gathering on top of the doors.

I've seen this at B&Q, for example. I guess it could work if treated and screwed into place? https://www.diy.com/departments/softwood-rain-deflector-l-840mm-w-30mm/161481_BQ.prd

As I'm sure you gather, I don't know much about this – but I'd love to learn from the rest of you.

Doozergirl

I’m trying to work out why your doors protrude from the wall?

martinthebandit

If I understand the problem correctly then something like this fitted to the top of the doors should sort it
https://www.screwfix.com/p/stormguard-epdm-rubber-p-strip-white-20m/33145

Other sizes and colours are available

Hennymore

> I’m trying to work out why your doors protrude from the wall?

I believe they're fairly flush with the wall, but I was told the water may be drawn in in by capillary action. I'll have another look to make sure they don't protrude, though.

> If I understand the problem correctly then something like this fitted to the top of the doors should sort it

I didn't even consider putting a rubber strip there – maybe that would work. I do have one on the inner side of the frame for weather sealing, but putting one on the outer side of the door could work for this. Thanks! Will try it.

Furts

Hennymore wrote: »

> I’m trying to work out why your doors protrude from the wall?

I believe they're fairly flush with the wall, but I was told the water may be drawn in in by capillary action. I'll have another look to make sure they don't protrude, though.

If the doors open into your room then there should be no problem because a standard frame will be rebated to prevent this. If they open out then yes, this is a problem with all outward openers.

French doors are often set in line with the brickwork - this allows the doors to open out 180 degrees and be clipped back to the brickwork. Problem is then stopping the rain coming in - which may be your problem.

Your quadrant moulding idea will work, provided it is treated before being fixed and sealed back to the frame.

Hennymore

Furts wrote: »

If the doors open into your room then there should be no problem because a standard frame will be rebated to prevent this. If they open out then yes, this is a problem with all outward openers.

They do indeed open outwards.

Furts wrote: »

Your quadrant moulding idea will work, provided it is treated before being fixed and sealed back to the frame.

Thank you. I might go ahead with that, then. So I guess a primer for outdoors wood and then outdoor paint should be enough. Or did you have some other type of treating in mind? When you say "sealed back to the frame", do you mean putting a bit of caulking or similar in the gap between the moulding and the door frame?

On a side note, I looked into adding a rubber strip to the outside of the top of the door blade as suggested above, but it seemed difficult to achieve – since the door frame will strike the rubber strip from the side, it wants to pull it off, rather than compact it. Possibly some kind of brush strip could work…