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Last Updated: , Created: Tuesday, September 14th, 1999

How to find where leaks enter the wall.

A caller from Ontario has a leak that keep's coming in through the wall despite the efforts of two contractors.

It is often very difficult to find the place where water gets into the wall, when it is not something obvious like a crack in the caulking around a window. You need to make a careful inspection on the outside of the wall above the problem.

Sometimes the only way to definitively find the problem is to hire consultant specialists that will set up specialized equipment to simulate a storm and hence locate the leak. In the two pictures here, they are spraying water on the wall simulating a strong storm, while creating a vacuum on the other side of the window to try and pull the water through.

Two cases from our viewers are of interest. In one case a cracked concrete window sill was the source of a surprising quantity of water. In another case a poorly placed window cap flashing actually acted as a funnel and directed water into the wall, which only showed up one floor later in the basement.

You can find this kind of professional service by looking in the Yellow Pages under: Engineers - Consulting.

The test rig shown on the show is a tool developed by a Toronto consulting firm, Buchan, Lawton, Parent Ltd.

 


Keywords: Caulking, Testing, Contractors, Walls, Windows, Water Penetration, Leaking, Sill, Cracks, Consultants, Inspection, Flashings, Water, Environmental, Basement, Problems

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