I live in Florida. The house is seven years old with brick façade over 2X6 walls. There is at least a half inch gap between the OSB/tyvek wrap and the brick. There are weep holes about every 4 feet along the sill plate. They simply did not mortar between two bricks at regular intervals.
I have found 2, maybe 3, door jambs are rotten up to about 3 inches above the aluminum threshold. This is on both sides of each door. There is no evidence of termites or other insects. The wood is not damp it is wet. My knife easily penetrates the brick mold and the jamb and destroys what is there.
The 2 doors that are obvious are on the East and North sides of the house. As I recall, the doors were installed as they came from the manufacturer, with only primer on the jambs. I do not have gutters, but the North end is a gable. Also on the North side is the garage door. This was framed with pressure treated 2X stock. I have noticed my knife will penetrate somewhat easily near the bottom, but the wood does not fall apart like the other 2 doors.
I have built a new jamb for one of the doors using cypress and sealing it with spar varnish. I am concerned that there may be standing water behind the brick. Should I be installing a drain between the brick and the wood as part of the fix? Should I wrap the door jamb with some sort of adhesive valley liner? Should I be worried about my sill plate?
Replies
Rj
Can't give advice on what I can't see, but.............
Here in Ohio the problem with most of the door jambs I replace or repair-water wicking up the ends of the jambs.
Now, you can get prehung entries with what is called "FrameSaver". The bottom 10" of the jambs are made of composites (Trex-like).
I try to form pans in the opening b/4 installing the units regardless. These I make out of flexible flashing. This is more to keep the water that could enter around the jambs or in that critical joint on the bottom at the threshold, draining out and keeping it from entering the finished area.
Be sure to seal all sides and ends/cuts of the new jamb you are installing.
Most likely your problem is that the door jambs sit (almost) directly on the concrete slab, which means that moisture from the ground (through the concrete) and from rain wicks into the bottom end of the jambs. Being on the east and north sides, the sun doesn't dry these areas rapidly after a rain (does it rain in Florida?), plus it sounds like you have a driveway on the north side, which pools the rainwater against the house.
That's probably the mot common rot repair we make. The jambs rot because they are usually untreated popular or hemlock and have no rot resistance at all. Rain bounces off the porch and soaks into the bottom of the jamb and in a few years it's all rotten. It even happens to steel doors and frames. Cypress is a better choice than popular but not what I would use as it still rots, just a little slower.
Whe we replace jambs now we use PVC jambs, stainless hinges, stainless Tapcons and vinyl shims and don't worry about anything ever going wrong.
Door jamb rot
Thank you to all who responded. Yes, it does rain in Florida. We just officially ended a 10 year drought with all the rain we had this year.
There is a driveway on the North side, but it is graded away from the house and the door is about a foot above grade. The jamb is resting on the slab and spans the gap to rest on the brick as well.
I understand the advantages of PVC, but I just don't care for the look and feel. I guess this means I am doomed to repair this again and again until I wise up.
I noticed that when they weathered-in the house, before the brick was installed, they did not install flashing above or around the doors. After the brick was up, they moved the door frame out and installed the brick mold right up against the brick, again, without flashing. The door frame is recessed, but it is in direct contact with the brick. I am wondering if the wicking Calvin and DanH mentioned is actually coming from the brick. Both of the doors, that are showing rot, are sitting directly on top of the brick and it is the area above the brick that is rotting. The garage door frame is sitting on concrete, but it isn't showing rot (yet).
I watched the video on replacing an exterior door. Manny Silva had rubberized flashing under everything. Unfortunately, he wasn't working on a brick house.
You've convinced me the rot is because of the climate and the location on the house. I'll check to see if the brick ledge is sloping away and I am going to place a layer of flashing all around the frame and under the threshold. I've already got 4 coats of spar varnish on the ends and I have a silicon caulk to seal the joints with the aluminum threshold.
Anything else?
Door jamb rot
Ditto what Calvin and Florida wrote. I get the same issues here in GA and I think it's more than just rain, I think there's also a condensation issue from the AL thresholds that sit under the unprotected cut end of the jamb material. The inside of that threshold sits in the cool AC while the outisde of the threshold sits in the hot humid collecting water when it can. I've worked these with as short of a life as 2 years since new and showing rot failure.
I'ts a doo rjamb, not something that's supposed to be crressed liek a stair rail so use the pVC or use screws to make your repair. You'll need he screws to be able to disassmble what's left of the wood ina few years.