Tabor Park Condominiums in S.E. Portland.

At some point in history, this building was re-sided with Vinyl Siding…

…and Vinyl Windows replaced the original aluminum-framed windows…

…the original frames of which were left in place with the Vinyl windows installed right over the top.

What if it begins to rain with the window removed? No problem. It’s all part of our skill set.

After having removed the Vinyl Window, technician Sean Miller removes the aluminum frame…

…and sets it aside to allow…

…for the proper flashing of the rough-opening.

After which Phil McNair applies a bead of caulking before re-installing the frames. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge for a better view.

Another problem solved.

North of the Sunset Corridor, AKA north of the Sunset Highway, AKA as N.W. Portland.

A glass block picture window.

A very nice (in our opinion) accent of “light” for what could have easily been a dark stairwell.

Plenty of light while maintaining privacy.

I can say that I have been alive long enough to say that I have seen the appeal of glass block come and go and then come back again.

Ebb and flow, wan and grow, glass-block may be a classic for the lovers of glass and light for generations to come. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you may be able to see the swollen sill-board that resulted in the call to our business.

An exterior examination on a ladder reveals water-weary wooden brick-moulding and a heavy caulking-bead (or something) whose effectiveness has long since passed.

And so it is that we are contracted to make reparations to the exterior seal around this opening.

Upon removing the original exterior trim, we see a layer of foam insulation around the glass that shows signs of excessive exposure to moisture at the bottom of the opening.

We remove any water damaged components, replacing them as needed, and reseal the block structure with commercial-grade sealants and “composite” exterior trim. Easy peasy.

An older Lake Oswego home with board and batten siding, single-pane wood windows and lath & plaster interior walls.

Our client informs us that water is showing up around the interior side of this front facing living room window assembly.

Inspecting the interior side, we discover that the location of the water seems to correlate with the vertical mull-post between window sash. Upon checking the other mull-post, we discover a similar condition.

This pattern would suggest water penetration from above, so we step back outside and take a look above.

This is one of about four or five vertical splits in the siding boards that have been channeling moisture down upon the top of the window header-jamb when the wind blows the rain just right.

And so, upon acceptance of our proposal, we return and remove the board and batten siding above this window assembly.

This photo typifies one of our ad hoc shops we set up on site to facilitate our repairs. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge a bit.

Tim & Juan are hard at it, reinstalling the siding after properly flashing the top of the window and applying the moisture-barrier.

The finished product. Better than new.

We repaired the interior wall surfaces as well.

Mixed use property in Southeast Portland, just east of the Mount Tabor area.

Very creative. Business space below out on the street,…

…and living space above on the backside accessed via a common drive or alleyway.

Water is showing up at the top of the main-floor vinyl patio door opening that leads out to the deck.

Can you see the water stains on the drywall and the vinyl door frame?

Anybody who does what we do for a living, learns pretty quickly to suspect an upper window when water shows up like that.

Upon close examination, a crack in the upper window frame is discovered in the bottom corner. It may be hard to see in this photo because someone has tried to fill it with white caulking.

The caulking will only work for so long, if at all…in large part due to the fact that vinyl expands and contracts so much, that the patch will usually be pulled away.
Fortunately, we are experts at repairing vinyl windows,…

…which is a fact that seems to spur considerable surprise to many a folk. Above, we are shown removing and replacing all the water damaged wall components, and we also provide and install a “window-pan” under the vinyl window in the…

…event that something should cause the window to leak again someday. On a side note, caulking should never be considered an adequate last or only barrier between exterior moisture and the structural components in your exterior walls.

A modest home in Tigard with Vinyl siding & Vinyl Windows.

Should be low maintenance.

But the design and application of the wood trim around this front facing living room window could have used a little more thought.

The insulated glass in the half-round transom window has failed, so we remove it for use as a template to acquire the replacement glass.

Removal of the lower shelf unit, and then the siding, and then the sheathing reveals more and more damage to this lower wall. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge a bit.

Vinyl Siding and Vinyl Windows failed to forestall the potential effects of Willamette Valley weather.

And the culprit is very simply a lack of proper flashing technique and application.

This project was a nice respite from all the extension-ladder, pump-jack, scaffold or man-lift work so much of the water remediation work entails.

We used Hardiboard material in lieu of the plywood product previously employed. The new glass is installed.

The new decorative shelf is installed, and we’re good to go.

Yeah, I chose this photo because I liked the sun-flares. And yet the photo serves to illustrate which side of the house receives the sun and the rain-storms that blow in from the southwest off the ocean.

The back side. With very little protection for the windows in the form of an overhang, as has been common since world war two. I am told that it began due to the rationing of building materials related to the war effort, but I surmise that it eventually became the practice of some builders caring more for their bottom-line than the quality of their product.

Behind our client’s sheet of black-plastic is the family room window where the water is showing up at the top. You may enlarge the photo by clicking on it. Note the containers and towels on the window sill to catch the water.

It didn’t take long to trace the water trail to the source beneath the 2nd story window above. This photo is showing that trail coming down to the top of the family room window which we’ve temporarily removed.

The damaged sheathing is replaced and the window is reinstalled.

Our client demonstrates the rare wisdom of concluding that poor flashing practices on one portion of this exterior wall likely means poor flashing practices elsewhere…

…on this wall with the severe exposure. And so it is determined to replace all the moisture-barrier,…

…and all the Hardiplank siding on this one wall.

Having criticized the lack of a substantial overhang (eves), it should be stated here once again..

…that if the moisture barrier and all related surfaces and components were properly flashed beneath the siding, there would be no water leaks, with or without eves.

This relatively small water remediation project also involved a failed insulated glass unit in the master bathroom.

It’s not uncommon for folks to see moisture forming in-between the panes of their insulated glass unit and to assume that it has…

…something to do with the swelling of their MDF window sill. And while it is theoretically possible that if the breach in the butyl membrane that seals the…

…insulated glass is located in the bottom of the unit, the accumulating water could drain back out and cause damage to a wood window sash or jamb (if direct…

…glazed), it is extremely unlikely that water could find its way out of a Vinyl Window Frame to affect the interior surround materials. So we knew pretty much from the…

…start that unless someone was splashing water up out of the bathtub, we had an improper flashing issue, as is the case with 85% to 95% of all exterior envelope water intrusion related projects.

As the previous two photos depict, less than sterling flashing technique was employed in the installation of this window assembly. We could have replaced the insulated glass unit without…

…removing the vinyl window of course, but since we were removing it anyway to afford us the opportunity to wrap the rough-opening with some self-adhesive flashing membrane that would…

…subsequently be tied into the existing moisture-barrier, we thought it prudent to make use of the “saw-horses & gravity technique” of glass replacement, as Jared & Rubin are demonstrating above.

The finished product. Clearly, better than new.

A handsome property in Sherwood.

Our client reports seeing water damage concerns in the exterior trim components around his daughter’s bedroom window.

Removing the screen and leaning out of the window reveals some of the concerns.

Lean down a little further, and a slightly more dynamic piece of evidence is discovered. Actually, this could be seen from the ground below. Once again, I apologize if you’ve been reviewing a number of these remediation projects and you find yourself…

…getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again…but you’ll notice the self-adhesive flashing membrane is overlapping the bottom nailing fin. And the moisture barrier was overlapped that. That’s so elementally wrong.

So several questions might be asked, …what about the rest of the windows and doors and exterior envelope concerns…

…on these homes wherein we are contracted to fix the only problem that has thus far surfaced…

…Would not a reasonable person possibly surmise the same folks who messed up this opening, also bungled…

“the rest of the structure”… Indeed. But frankly, who could ever afford the cost to check the entire house…

On the backside of this home in N.W. Portland, is a daylight basement.

Several years ago, he had his windows replaced with new Vinyl Windows. But as you can see in the photos above (click to enlarge), he is getting water dripping in at the top of several of them.

Initially, it looked hopeful, given that there was flashing over the brick-moulding. But alas, it was not properly installed. Nor was the moisture-barrier at the bottom of the windows properly installed.

And so it was that our client determined that these back facing walls with the new windows needed a complete redo.

Which is what we did, because we do redos.

Some of the sheathing was water-damaged, as suspected,…

…so that was dealt with. The windows were removed so the rough-openings could be properly covered and sealed with self-adhesive flashing membrane.

Then re-installed and properly tied into the new moisture-barrier.

After which, we resided the wall.

The adjoining bump-out wall with the six vinyl picture windows received the exact same redo.

A northwest neighborhood near Oak Hills and the Cedar Mill areas.

Front facing Living Room Window is leaking at the top.

Substantial amounts of water. Which is not to say that even one drop would be an inconsequential amount.

You can be certain that whatever amount of moisture is showing up on the interior, that there is much more…

…moisture that is soaking up into the kiln-dried wall components before it reaches the top of the window.

This is one of the reasons that merely eliminating the source of the leak would rarely be adequate for correcting such a problem, unless you…

…somehow knew for absolutely certain that you caught the leak when it very first began. And also if you knew for certain that it didn’t take ounces or gallons of…

So if there’s a chance that the beginnings of rot has taken hold in any of the wall components…it will not stop its spread and destruction of your wall simply by plugging the hole.

Your wall components should be inspected to ensure that thousands of dollars in repair costs don’t translate into tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs when you go to sell your house someday.