Window leak along top of frame - worried

MrBrindle

Hi all,

We discovered recently that we have a window leak along the top frame in our living room. It's not in a corner, but around 6 inches from the top left corner. No pictures yet. We only moved into the house back in March btw.

We live on top of a hill, and the living room side gets the brunt of the weather, driving wind and rain. The plasterboard slowly saturates along the frame in heavy windy rain, and the spreads along the top, creating a damp patch of around 8 x 2 inches. There's also a bit of water inside the frame - when I open the window I can see a little bit of water coming out from a hole above.

We had a window fitter out last week, who resealed the edges of the exterior of the window, but not the top. He did the same for all other windows that needed doing. However the problem remains.

After reading things online, I'm a bit petrified that this is a bigger issue.

The living room window is below a bedroom window of an identical size, and the fitter suggested water was probably coming down through gaps there because the sealing was a bit knackered on that as well. The window comprises of a metal lintel (not sure what type) and like a decorative stone lintel arrangement on top.

However if that's happening, surely there's a fault in the build? The house is timber framed (13 years old), so if there's water running down inside the cavity or something then that's a pretty major issue. Surely the lintel and dpm of the wooden frame should be diverting water out if it's coming from above?

Needless to say I'm very concerned that this could have been a build error that's going to cost us thousands to rectify :-(

Hoping someone can give me some reassurance.

flashg67

Only thing I can say is I had an identical problem but in a stone built house. I had someone out to reseal the frame all the way round which has cured it. I'd say get this done first?

stuart45

Some internal and external photos may help solve the problem.

MrBrindle

Right I hope this will work. The first pic is when we had storm callum and I started prodding the paint to see how damp is was, and then is started flaking off.

It was a bit damp last night after heavy rain and wind, but has dried this morning again.

MrBrindle

flashg67 wrote: »

Only thing I can say is I had an identical problem but in a stone built house. I had someone out to reseal the frame all the way round which has cured it. I'd say get this done first?

Yeah, that was suggested, don't know why the fitter didn't do it.

Was the old silicon visibly defective beforehand? To my eye the seal looks ok and no obvious gaps.

MrBrindle

I've just noticed today that the outside bottom corner of that window has been trickling water all day, it's the opposite side of the actual leak.

Also, I ran my finger underneath the beading of the render at the bottom of the wall and that felt damp. There's also a few patches where the bricks and mortar below the render re still wet from the rain last night.

Seriously worrying now that the whole wall is damp or something...surely the beading below shouldn't feel damp?? That elevation does get a right battering from driving rain.

The exterior wall is block with k-rend, and bottom part is bricks.

I suffer from anxiety, so I don't know if I'm worrying over nothing here, but it doesn't feel right.

MrBrindle

Any advice on this? Window fitter can't come back till next week, and it's going to rain all week :-(

Fire_Fox

((hugs))

Water is a real problem if it is either absolutely pouring in or left unchecked for a long period of time. You have only been in seven months, including a loooong summer. You called in a professional as soon as you noticed small leaks.

Any damp bits will dry out. Any flaky bits can be patched up.

Do you like high cocoa dark chocolate? Full of magnesium. Good for us stress-heads (really truly).

MrBrindle

Fire_Fox wrote: »

((hugs))

Water is a real problem if it is either absolutely pouring in or left unchecked for a long period of time. You have only been in seven months, including a loooong summer. You called in a professional as soon as you noticed small leaks.

Any damp bits will dry out. Any flaky bits can be patched up.

Do you like high cocoa dark chocolate? Full of magnesium. Good for us stress-heads (really truly).

Thanks for the reply.

I noticed there was a bubbling patch there a few weeks after we got in, but because it was coming into spring and summer, I thought I'd leave it till winter time. Wish I dealt with it back then because we get driving rain a lot up here now, and it's leaked 2 times in the space of 3 weeks.

I'm just feeling very uneasy about whether or not this was a long term problem that was patched over before selling - they were selling throughout winter last year though, so would have risked a problem showing.

Or, we've just been terribly unlucky with timing.

My catastrophising tendencies are edging towards the former, and that the whole timber frame around that window is rotting away into a pulp. Whether this is reasonable I'm not sure.......

I've read a lot of nasty stuff about timber framed houses online, and I wished I looked into it more before buying this house. I probably wouldn't have bought it knowing all the risks involved.

Builder is coming tomorrow so I'm hoping it will be positive news, otherwise I will be contacting one of those we buy any house companies!

Fire_Fox

MrBrindle wrote: »

I'm just feeling very uneasy about whether or not this was a long term problem that was patched over before selling - they were selling throughout winter last year though, so would have risked a problem showing.

Or, we've just been terribly unlucky with timing.

My catastrophising tendencies are edging towards the former, and that the whole timber frame around that window is rotting away into a pulp. Whether this is reasonable I'm not sure.......

I've read a lot of nasty stuff about timber framed houses online, and I wished I looked into it more before buying this house. I probably wouldn't have bought it knowing all the risks.

Did you have a full structural survey and follow their recommendations? If you did, and if they missed something, they may be be liable.

MrBrindle

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Did you have a full structural survey and follow their recommendations? If you did, and if they missed something, they may be be liable.

Hi, yes we did have a full private survery conducted as well - 30 page document, but nothing about any structural faults.

I'm starting to panic about the lintel now as well, because looking at the picture of both windows it seems to me like it's sagging a little bit in the middle :-( Deep breaths.......