Standard window detail not good enough in exposed area

Duncan31 · 07-02-2011 08:00PM #1

Hi,

Anyone ever had a situation with window reveals that were difficult to seal?
Driving rain seems to be passing between the window frame & the plaster at quite a rate resulting in wet patches at bottom corners of the window on the cill and sometimes at such a rate that the water overspills from the cill area (out over the cill dpc) and wets the whole wall underneath

I feel the vertical dpc needs to be sealed onto the window frame before external plastering in exposed areas.

I guess the problem here is that the vertical dpc might be sitting 1 mm or so away from the window frame after plastering.

Anyone experienced a situation such as this?

Gulliver · 08-02-2011 05:43PM

I think we should definitely look at the sealing of windows in exposed areas. I was unfortunate enough to fall victim to this recently.

Had to dig out a wet piece of wall and saw the insulation was touching the DPC on the back of the cill, so the water had no problem getting to the outside face of the insulation. Water was entering at the window, travelling down the outside face of the insulation until it met a gob of mortar that bridged to the inside wall.

When I was getting a window looked at for handle problem, I mentioned it to the supplier. He put a bead of sealant all around the frame and cill at the plaster. The hole inside had been left open for testing we were collecting water in a tray. Since the sealant, there has been no more water ingress.

I know this was two separate problems. I wouldn't have known only it showed up inside. I was constantly on to the builder about keeping the ties clean (his work is good, but he's a bit messy) and didn't think about the insulation. Hope he hasn't left any other hidden messes for me.

Standard window detail not good enough in exposed area

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