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Discussion Forum

leaking exterior doors

drbgwood | Posted in General Discussion on October 17, 2005 05:16am

I’ve gotten a couple of call backs on exterior doors I have replaced with never rot door jambs.  The complaint is that during heavy rain, the floor is getting wet around the bottom side of the door (interior side of course).

I’m installing all the latest and greatest self adhesive flashings, jambsills, and premium thesholds.  Each peice of flashing is overlaped by the one above it.

I’m setting the doors in with 1/8th on top and latch side, 3/32 on hinge side.  thresholds are adjustable and set just tight enough to cause little resistance when door closes, and got dripcap door sweeps on.  The interior of door is hinged and latched flush with jambs.

I’m thinking the stock weather striping that comes with the never rot door jamb kit may not be holding up to heavy rain exposure.

Anyone else deal with this problem?  Are there any other weather stippings that would be recommended to replace the never rot stock stuf.

thanks 

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  1. experienced | Oct 17, 2005 06:51am | #1

    Are the products you're installing tested for water leakage under wind pressures. Up here in Canada, the Canadian Standards Association has set test requirements (water leakage, air leakage, structural strength, energy efficiency) in a standard recognized by the national building code.

    For water leakage, doors and windows are tested  in 100 pascal pressure steps from 100 to 700 pa. I live in Nova Scotia,  a lot of coastline with driving gales. I tell anyone who will listen to me to install the windows tested for the highest pressure, 700 pa, and hope, since some instantaneous wind gusts will get higher than 700 pa. water will follow air- I've seen water move up and over 3-4 inch flashings in certain situations.

    1. MikeSmith | Oct 17, 2005 01:02pm | #3

      living in coastal RI convinced me years ago that doors leak...  in MNSHO  if they are designed to be opened and closed , there is no way they are going to keep the winddriven rain out under all conditions..

       i tell all my customers that i will not guarantee the door will not leak unless we also put a storm door in front of it

      so... install it perfectly, adjust it... put the pads in the corners...  make sure it opens and closes, and latches...

       after that , what are you going to do ?

      anyways....  they don't call them storm doors for nothingMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

      1. BryanSayer | Oct 17, 2005 05:27pm | #7

        storm door, ... or a porch!

  2. calvin | Oct 17, 2005 12:48pm | #2

    Did you install the corner pads at the juncture of the jamb to threshold?  Door units here come packed with two, a beveled one for the latch side and a sq. foam block for the hinge side.

    A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.

    Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

    Quittin' Time

     

  3. DanH | Oct 17, 2005 01:13pm | #4

    Is the water running under the threshold perhaps?

    --------------
    No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.
    1. drbgwood | Oct 17, 2005 02:24pm | #5

      The treshold's up 4" off the deck, so don't think its running back in that way.

      I'll look for the pads, or see if I can make my own.  I was actually thinking that an extra strip of thin, dense foam up the hinge side would seal that side extra nicely.  Don't think I could do that on the top and latch side though.

      The door I have on my house has a different type of weather striping that looks more like what is on a refrigerator door.  If I can find that somewhere, I'll give it a shot.

      She's got a roll away screen over the door, that she wants to keep, but I'll start pushing harder for that storm door sell, or an awning.  Still, would like to be able to make a door waterproof by itself though.

      thanks

       

      1. DanH | Oct 17, 2005 04:13pm | #6

        When we replaced our front door about 10 years back the door came from the factory with compression-type seals that didn't seem to seal very well (storm door, so no water leakage, but wife could feel draft, and wife hates drafts).Found magnetic replacement seals that were an exact fit for top and latch side (hinge side compression seal was different and wasn't a problem). Wife is happy.
        --------------
        No electrons were harmed in the making of this post.

  4. User avater
    hammer1 | Oct 17, 2005 05:43pm | #8

    There are several other places you can check for a source of the leak. Sometimes the adjustable threshold will allow water in. The piece is loose and often has through bolt holes in the sill. Another place is where the trim is attached to the jamb. This joint should be caulked. Some doors leak around the perimeter of the glass, if there is any. The water runs inside the hollow door and can leak out in the corners. Doors that are made for 6" walls can have extensions added to the jamb and sill. These need caulking. There can be leaks near the door caused by siding gaps. In rare cases, head flashings can be improperly layered, sitting on top of Tyvek instead of under. This will allow the Tyvek to carry water from above and let it run behind the flashing. This can be common with vinyl siding which isn't great at keeping out wind driven water. Kickboards under the sill can shrink and leave a gap where they meet the sill. Nearby light fixtures or outlets may not be sealed properly. It's amazing how much water can find it's way in through a very small, unseen gap, and how hard it can be to find the source.

    Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

  5. Davo | Oct 24, 2005 06:31am | #9

    Find the leak first...don't just assume the leak is from the door. (ie...just last week, got a call from a client whom we did a basement remodel for last year. We also added an exterior door by excavating, installing a concrete stairwell, and knocking out brick and block to frame new door opening.  Client calls and says door must be leaking water in around the head opening, cause the interior head drywall is getting soft...wet.  He says he thinks water is flowing down and being forced through door at head gap seal.

    I'm thinking..no way. We installed aluminum flashing that was mortared into the brick directly above the door's header. The flashing directs water away from the header. Infact, this area was double flashed.  Anyway, we arrive at site, inspect door...door is tightly sealed...no air gaps. We look at interior side of door area...sure enough, water damage near top left corner close to header.  We go outside and inspect brick....above the door, house has approx 15 courses of brick, then rest of house was vinyl sided. Original contractor/builder, never installed any type of flashing at the vinyl siding/brick connection. Builder omitted vinyl J channel too. Instead, builder simply laid down a bead of caulking between siding and soldier course of brick.  It was easy to see where water was penetrating between the soldier course and finding its way into the basement wall cavity.

    We had installed a suspended ceiling. We removed a few panels, and sure enough, water penetration from outside the brick wall,coming through holes drilled in rim joist for exterior utlities ( builder did this..not us) and running down along the interior block wall. We had built new 2X4 walls with a 1 inch air space between the old block and our new wall. The water was running down the block,and finding its way to our door header. ...Case solved.)

    We offered to fix the leak...Owner accepted. Main thing was...our door installation was not the culprit.

    Davo

    1. drbgwood | Oct 24, 2005 04:28pm | #10

      thanks, I keep that in mind.

  6. edwardh1 | Oct 24, 2005 06:05pm | #11

    Just curious - is there an overhang to keep water off the door?
    I never understood the (Mainly new england it seems to me) house styles which have no overhang or 6 inch overhang - so all the doors and windows get water on them all the time.

    1. mrfixitusa | Oct 24, 2005 08:13pm | #12

      Several years ago I removed a sliding patio door and installed a new one. I believe the door was the original door. The home was built in approx 1979.Underneath the door I did not find caulking. Instead I found a glue like substance which was, I think, something like "liquid nails".It appeared that it had worked very well to seal the door and keep water out.I don't know if this is a common way of sealing doors?

      1. jg | Oct 24, 2005 09:57pm | #13

        That was probably a polyurethane based caulk if I am not mistaken

    2. drbgwood | Oct 25, 2005 03:26am | #14

      I've got 2 houses with this problem.  on one, there is an overhang a couple of feet over the door by about 16 inches out.   Pretty reasonable overhang, but during a blowing rain, door will still get wet.

      the other house, the door is on the lower of 2 storys and the overhang is the normal 1 foot or so out, but so high above the door, it's insuffincent for keeping water off.

      Been real busy lately, but still looking for some more substaincial weather stripping to replace the stock stuff that came with the door jambs i installed.  will let yaw no how it turns out.

      thanks

  7. User avater
    The_DOORBRIM_Store | Aug 19, 2020 06:57am | #15

    A good option for a leaking door is to divert the water with a DOORBRIM rain diverter available at https://doorbrim.com. These are extremely useful and effective if water is streaming down the wall above the door.

    1. calvin | Aug 19, 2020 07:21am | #16

      Butt ugly on a residence.
      Butt, nice job of entering a spam ad.

  8. singhharry12 | Aug 19, 2020 09:47am | #17

    I'll look for the pads, or see if I can make my own. I was actually thinking that an extra strip of thin, dense foam up the hinge side would seal that side extra nicely. Don't think I could do that on the top and latch side though. https://get-9apps.com/index/ and https://cartoonhd.onl

  9. osmaanam | Apr 14, 2022 01:35am | #18

    the other house, the door is on the lower of 2 story's and the overhang is the normal 1 foot or so out, but so high above the door, it's insufficient for keeping water off.

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