Hi, I have an all brick sunroom that I believe was an addition to an all brick home. The sunroom has aluminum roof and flashing that appears to be in goods shape. The roof on the second floor is about 5 years old so that should be okay too. When it rains, water leaks on the inside of the sunroom only on the wall that attaches to the house. There isn't one specific spot, but rather almost the entire wall is wet with the exception of a few areas. it used to be the case that when it rained water would appear on the floor of the sunroom but nowhere else, we do have weeps about every 2 feet. Does anyone know what could be causing this leak? Or even who I should call to come out and look at it? Thanks.

 

Sounds like the junction between the vertical wall and the sun room may be improperly flashed, I see this problem frequently at home inspections here in the Chicago area, often the flashing at this junction consists of a single piece of aluminum coil which has been nailed to the brick structure and then "waterproofed" with a bead of sealant or roofing cement.

It's not possible to say how this junction should be flashed without knowing a lot more about the construction details, for example is the sun room simply set against and exterior brick veneer wall with access via an existing exterior door, or was exterior wall opened up to provide a larger opening between the original structure and the sun room?

If is just attached the original wall you can expect water to exit the wall at floor level, from the weeps: brick is not waterproof and a brick veneer wall is designed with a drainage plan on the assumption that water penetrating the brick will exit the wall's base at the weeps. That could be your water source at floor level.

If the wall was opened up and header installed to allow a better view/easier access from the interior of the original structure then weeps would have (should have) been installed above the shelf angle supporting the brick above the opening in such a way that they drained unto the roof below and appropriate flashing and counter flashing installed at the junction between the original exterior wall and the sun room roof.

See here for more information.

If you were located in Chicago I would know where to send you to get this diagnosed and corrected, however as a general rule this problem may require both a mason and a roofer or to fix it; in that case my advice would be to find good mason and have them sub out any required roofing and roofing related flashing work to the roofer of their choice , that way if you have further problems you have only a single party responsible for solving them.

Keep in mind though that the water entering the brick veneer drainage plane is intended to exit at the base of the wall, and that while it may be possible to reduce water entry to the wall it cannot be eliminated, and you will likely always have some water exiting at the weeps. (If you attempt to plug the weeps, you are just redirecting that water into the interior of the structure and creating even bigger problems).

If you could link to pictures showing a wide-angle view of the sun room and exterior wall going all the way up to the roof, a wide-angle view of the entry to the sun room has seen from inside the main structure, and a close-up of the flashing between the sun room roof and exterior wall, both at the center and at the corners, we may be able to tell you more about what needs to be done.