I've got soft drywall and mold developing on window sill in a basement window, directly under a single exterior door upstairs. I removed teh drywall from above the windo to reveal a 2x10 'lintel' (is that the right term. The lintel is damp, and areas of it are black (black mold??).

Regardless, I think the culprit is the door upsairs has been leaking for some time. I did apply some caulk to the door sill a while back, but this did not work.

The door is surrounded by siding, so difficult for me to see what is behind that. There apears to be a drip edge on the botto outside of the sill too, where I previously caulked tto, but it all looks rather a mess.

I think my first task is to clean up the mold, then address the leaking door, then repair my basement wall.

I am looking for help/tips on making sure my door is seales in all the right places. Do I need to remove siding to do this, or should I be able to remove and re-caulk the mess around the sill.

In case it matters, there is no leak apparent from the door on the level it is on. If there was, it was a the bottom only, behind the sill. It is an old door.

Thanks

Nubi

 

Caulking is rarely the answer to solving leaks. Your first priority should be to determine where the leak is occurring, and you may have to remove some siding to do this. (you didn't say what type of siding you have around the door).

Leaks often occur above the window, get into the rough opening on the sides of the door and leak in through the floor under the door. Caulking sometimes only prevents water from escaping in such a situation and the only place it can go is down.

If you say there is no indication of water on the floor where the door is sitting (remove interior trim and poke the subfloor visible in the rough opening with a screwdriver) then it could be that you have water getting behind the siding (again, either from above or starting under the sill). Removing siding and checking the condition of the sheathing and building paper is really the only way to find out what's going on.

 

it is vinyl siding. The siding butts upto the door and there appears to be the required J trim all around the door frame.

Like I said, there is a 'drip edge' made of vinyl at the outer edge of the sill. The door sill (is sill the right term or is it footplate) does not overhang the exterior siding by very much, if a all. Could this be an issue?

Wish I could diagram it out. All loks a bit ad hoc near the bottom, I have to say. I have a feeling there is either a leak in this drip edge, or water is somehow trailing in underneith it.

Stupid question time, but how do I remove siding without breaking it? It's something I have never done before. Do I start at the top of the door, or at the bottom?

 

I have picture of my door and siding, but not sure how to attach them to the thread.

I found the length of siding directly under my exterior door is quite severely buckled. Not visbily, but when I manipulate it by hand. Almost like it is not seated, or just poorly installed. The rest of my siding on the house, if I push with my finger, gives about an inch to the underlaying wall. The siding right under the door, and over my offending leaky moldy window gives about 2 inches, and waffles (if you know what I mean) back and forth. Not tight like the other siding. Could this be my culprit?

How do I fix it? Why would the siding buckle lke that? Too long on the ends? Not clipped in or seated right?

Need to get that siding tool, after reading some other threads.

Nubi

 

Pictures need to be uploaded to a website (either your own or one like Flickr or photobucket) then you can paste the link in your reply.

As far as the buckling siding is concerned, vinyl buckles like that when it cut is too tight, nailed too tight or is pinned on each end (it needs room to move), or when one or both ends are raised higher or lower than the middle. Hard to say which is true in your case.

We could only guess at what the cause of your leak is. In reality, building paper/housewrap should be protecting the entire exterior of the home, even if water gets behind the vinyl siding. So in my mind, the first question would be... is there building paper behind the siding, is it lapped properly, and is this "flashing" under the door doing it's job, or is it funnelling water under your siding instead.

Once the siding is removed these things should all become clear, and the extent of the damage will be known.

 

Can you describe how the flashing should be installed or look around/under the door once I take off the siding. I have no leaks anywhere else in the house. Am I just lucky?

The siding top edge would necessarily have been cut to fit under the door sill/jamb. The drip edge I iniiatlly refered to is probably J trim/mould as used on the door/window edges, so it's probably doing it's intended job.

By lapped, I am assuming you mean overlpped at the seams or joins, correct? HOw much is adequate lapping? Does it need to be taped, or does it bretah? I don't know.

Guess I have to rip the siding off. See what's inder the covers....

 

Yes, you're probably seeing the j-channel under the door sill. It doesn't do anything to keep water out. Unless you actually have a pan flashing under the entire door, it's not likely there is any type of flashing at all under the door, other than your housewrap or building paper. *If* all you have is felt paper or housewrap, it ought to be folded into the rough opening under the door and the door sill should have been sealed on bottom with sealant. I would just guess that maybe the housewrap is poorly cut and installed under the door. You'll probably find it to be gapped open, with the sheathing partially visible, or even totally missing.

You might be lucky on the rest of the house... or maybe those other leaks just haven't shown up yet. Vinyl siding actually allows a lot of water behind the siding. It runs down the j-channels and once the j-channel ends, water is directed behind the siding. In most cases, a good housewrap is all that protects the house from leaks. This is why I bring up the subject of housewrap, since it's imperative with vinyl siding. Yes, it must be overlapped correctly at the seams so that it sheds water. If one would remove all the siding from a house, you should be able to hose the house down and not have anything behind the housewrap get wet. Taping of seams (housewrap only) is usually done more for air sealing than for preventing water infiltration, although with foam sheathing, tape over seams helps make the foam sheathing weather resistive.

2-4" of overlap would be normal, and sufficient in most situations.

Once you get the siding off, yes, it should be apparent where the problem lies. I would just hazard to guess that you might have some rotten sheathing under that door, so you might end up replacing a small section there, patching in the housewrap, maybe putting some additional self-adhering membrane flashing (a window and door tape) around the door. If your door has an aluminum sill, you can sometimes stick a nice piece of flashing tape up under the door sill to ensure it doesn't leak. And depending on what you find you may want to add some tape around the entire door. But no sense getting into that if it's not necessary. Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

Was away for a while and not ahd time to address this yet.

I just hose sprayed around my door frame. The leaking started on the lower right side of the door frame, about a foot or so up the side. I pulled back some of the vinyl siding, and the wrap seems to be intact and taped etc. Few of the siding nails obviously hammered through it in places, but no real obvious 'holes'. Some surface water which seems natural - right? It is all taped down with that red tape (name has escaped me - but the real sticky stuff). It seems to go all around the door frame up to the J Trim.

I inspected the J-trim a little closer (Externally) and the caulk where it touches the dooe frame is a little deteriorated. I can see a crack visibile if I force it back, but does not seem enough to let water through.

Is it possible the j-trim is cracked in behind? where it meets the siding?

Only other thing I can think of is the bottom right corner of the door? Perhaps the trim and tape is not tight. Only piece I have not really inspected. Hard to get at as my deck is in the way to get the siding off.

Is it also possible the water can somehow seep back up under the door sill, behind the trim? Only surface tension would seem to allow that to happen.

Any ideas? What's the most common cause, based on what I've told you??

 

Here is an update. Had the siding removed to inspect the wrap around a light over the door. Also the wrap at teh door base was fixed up - still leaks! Damn!!!

I sprayed water (from hose) around siding by base of door. No leak.

I then concentrate hose spray on the threshold. It is aluminum step with wood frame. Caulked at the joint. Presto, this is where it leaks. Cut the old caulking out and replaced. Sprayed. Still leaks. Damn!!!

On the same side ( the hinge side) Noticed that there is a small gap behind the weather stripping, stretching about 8 inches up where water might intrude. I Caulked it too, and no leak. Not sure that is the optimal fix or only fix required.

Does weather stripping need to be replaced every few years?

I obviously have a leak around my door frame, that finds its way to the inside wall, and exits in the window down below. Is it common that water gets in behind the weather strip, works it's way down to the bottom of the door, finds a crack in the old wood frame? Leaks?

Would a storm door solve my issue? What about replaceing weather strip. Thought this was more for keeping cold air out, not water. Probably wrong. Won't be the first or last time.

Tks All