One of many exclusive neighborhoods in West Linn.

The pattern continues with elevated properties, elevated walls with minimal overhangs and non-clad wood windows.

In this case, they are Weathershield wood windows. But the brand of window isn’t as pertinent…

…as the exposure to the elements and the issue of maintenance. Or the latter’s lack thereof.

This is one of those scenarios where the rotten windows translated into water-damaged walls.

As the sills and jambs have deteriorated to the point of “holes” developing, the water has been routed on into the wall cavities.

We do so much wood window repair that we often stock lineal footage of sash and sill components of various brands of wood windows.

Brandon goes about repairing a large picture sash.

Steve Hilt is cutting cedar siding…

…for Bruce & David to install as they go about putting the exterior walls back together after the repairs have been made.

Another contemporary design with the flat roofs and the infamous vertical tongue-in-groove cedar siding.

This one nestled away in Vancouver Washington.

The initial scope of this living room project involved replacement of three rather large “failed” direct-glaze insulated glass units.

But once the work began, it wasn’t long before rot was discovered in the window-sills and jambs, which lead…

…to discovering rotten structural components in the wall cavities below.

It’s always difficult to say how long this water intrusion has been going on, but the damage extended all the way down the living…

…room exterior wall, on down into the basement wall below it. So the job somewhat morphed into a more…

…extensive project that necessitated our erecting tarps and shifting gears into rebuilding exterior walls mode.

This probably isn’t the only place on this structure with hidden damage…but for now, this area is better than new.

Well the problem that resulted in this project wasn’t really “small” per se, I’m just encountering some writers block as it relates to coming up with creative titles for these photo documents.

Clearly, our client didn’t think his problem was all that small, given what he paid to get it fixed. Stereotypical scenario here…water showing up at the top of the bottom window.

Removal of siding quickly locates the source. See the red arrow and the water stain trailing down from there. You can enlarge the photo if you click on it.

Before we removed it, this is what the moisture-barrier looked like along the side of the upper window. Some of the barrier came off with the siding, but note the lack of overlap due to how the felt-paper was cut.

This is the result. It’s no wonder the powers that be now require we use that self-adhesive flashing tape to seal these two surfaces together.

And so the windows are temporarily removed so as to facilitate proper application of flashing products to protect the rough-opening.

The windows are reinstalled and the aforementioned flashing-tape is applied accordingly.

Cedar siding is replaced…

…and we move up to the 2nd story window.

Almost finished.

In 2013, we were hired to find the leak that was showing up at the top of living room windows, as well as the top of the door assembly above it (See project 27115 in this same category). Operating on the assumption that the water source might be one in the same, we removed all the stucco shown above in the area highlighted in yellow, and as documented in the photo shown above with Steve Hilt up at the top of the scaffolding. This removal of stucco siding confirmed that due to improperly flashed stucco and related components, substantial water had indeed been finding its way down inside the exterior wall to the top of the doors and we assumed, on down to the window assembly below.

Also operating under the direction of our clients who were understandably wanting to minimize costs, it was assumed and hoped that stopping the water at the top of the doors would also stop the water showing up at the top of the windows below. But the following year (2014), as the photos above indicate with the cooking pans on the living room window sill again (yellow arrow), this was not to be. So let it be known that there is often more than one source and entry point for leaky walls. And finding all the points of entry is not always an exact science unless a client is willing to pay us to open enough exterior surfaces to find them all. And yet obviously, folks are understandably motivated to minimize costs.

It’s also not unusual for the stress related to unexpected financial liabilities such as this to translate into folks being tempted to blame us for not finding and stopping all the leaks the first time. That was not the case here. Our clients chose to remember that we were instructed to try and minimize costs. These folks were among those who choose to treat others as they would want to be treated. And so the stucco below the Juliet balcony is removed and the water-trail is followed both up and down the wall. Eric is showing someone’s previous repairs as indicated by the shiplap sheathing having been replaced by plywood. You may need to click on several of these photos to enlarge them so you can make out what we’re trying to show here.

What we found to be the primary culprit were the cantilevered steel flat-bar supports for the Juliet balcony. They can be better seen in photo set #7 below, but you should be able to see the water-stains on the sheathing just below the balcony (red arrows). And below that (2nd photo), the water trail led us down below the living room windows where an entire corner support post had completely disintegrated.

Our client seemed keenly appreciative of the fact that this structural damage was discovered before the weight of the steel balcony structure resulted in bringing the master bedroom down into the living room. .

Damaged structural components are replaced and properly covered with moisture-barrier products. A custom galvanized sill-pan is manufactured for us to our specifications by Schmeer Sheet Metal and installed by our crew before the windows are reinstalled.

Here you can better see the steel flat-bar supports tied into the master bedroom flooring joists. Flashing these to the stucco siding in a way that was viable and durable seemed like a long-shot to us. So we devised a plan to have some very custom flashing made to cover the area above the supports, which was also tied into and under the door assembly sill-pan. We then enveloped the supports with composite material that was laid over more sheet-metal flashing tucked beneath the flashing above it and then turned out at 90 degrees at the bottom of the composite boards to cover the top of the new stucco siding that was yet to be installed below it all. Did you get all that?

Here we see the wall rebuilt with the new moisture-barrier in place on the exterior, and the windows and related trim reinstalled on the interior.
In photo-set #5 above, you can see a door assembly that was original to the house there off the living room. Our client said that this door was never used. So we were asked to replace it with a window that would match the one on the opposite end of this structural bump-out. These photos show the new window opening temporarily covered while we waited for the new window sash to be manufactured by Marvin. Yes, only the jambs and trim were original. The sash had all been upgraded previously to modern Marvin windows with insulated (double-pane) glass.

Here we see the exterior walls prepared for the reapplication of stucco siding.

And here we see the new applied stucco awaiting paint, at which time it will blend in with the rest of the original stucco. Please note that we have now installed the new Marvin Picture Casement Sash where there had originally been a door assembly.

The Quimby Townhouses in Northwest Portland. You get one guess as to what street this complex sits upon.

Water leak reported on main-floor living space window assembly.

If you enlarge the photo by clicking upon it, you may be able to make out some of the water-damage at the top of the window.

We are immediately struck by what appears to be extensive flashing measures. They even have galvanized flashing right on top of the vinyl window, which is a bit of overkill. But if you’re going to do this…

…most seasoned professional flashing technicians are going to tell you that the z-flashing should have extended all the way over the top of the vertical trim piece, as we’ve illustrated with the yellow lines.

Backer-rod used between the window and trim to create an adequate caulking joint is applaudable. But failing to overlap the nailing-fin is a huge mistake, whether there is z-flashing over it or not. Look at the hole created (yellow arrow) by the moisture membrane that runs up the vertical fin.

This hole would be covered if the top nailing-fin was adequately overlapped. If moisture was somehow getting behind the outer moisture-barrier layer, as it was due to flashing foibles beneath the upper window, this is a likely entry-point.

Unusually extensive flashing efforts where clearly evident here. But there’s no substitute for thoroughness born of experience. This photo shows the siding boards replaced due to our corrections made below the upper window.

Tim retrieves his harness anchor.

Mission accomplished.

The N.E. Grant Park Area. It’s not really a century old structure, but it’s getting close.

Its current owner is one of those rare clients who understands the value of preventative maintenance. She isn’t waiting until the water starts showing up at her interior walls, to get the exterior siding upgraded.

You probably can tell that the ground floor is sided in stucco. This property owner, (a previous client of ours) decided to upgrade the 2nd story lap-siding.

As these photos reveal, there was no moisture barrier employed when this house was built 84 years ago.

Any cracks, knots or holes in the siding or along the edges could very easily translate into water penetration and damage to the structure.

It’s truly a testament to the general construction practices of those days that structures like this one actually have very little damage…

…as compared to the many that were built over the past 20 years. And it would seem to be getting worse from our experience.

Several of our technicians are working on the back of the house, while the large gabled side wall over the driveway is being finished.

The siding of choice for this project was 18″ R&R KD Primed & Grooved Shingles.

There was actually very little water-damage discovered beneath the siding on this project.

A stately, if modest home by some of Lake Oswego standards.

Our client reports water dripping in at the top interior of the back facing family room vinyl windows.

The exploratory surgery begins. First, at the top of the window where the evidence is showing up. We are looking for how the water is getting in past the moisture barrier.

As we suspected while performing the preliminary inspection, those intersecting relationships up at the top of the wall of various rooflines, gutter and siding possessed all trappings so frequently associated with potential water intrusion problems.

But the water penetration we found there getting in behind the moisture barrier was just the beginning of this walls woes. Just above the wall we found a hole in the cedar shake roofing, channeling water in upon some extremely weather worn felt paper.

As we continued to remove the cedar lap siding, we ran into your stereotypical flashing missteps. Moisture-barrier overlapping the bottom window nailing fin.

Sheathing sitting directly upon the concrete patio and the not too surprising consequences. This was of course, unrelated to water showing up at the top of the window, but water damage problem nonetheless. So we removed all the siding from the wall and removed the windows.

Working our way up to the top, the water damaged components are replaced. Wall components not showing water damage, though possibly exposed to moisture are treated with fungicide.

The moisture-barrier is obviously replaced in keeping with the latest building codes and products, and the windows are installed as specified by most of the various window manufactures. Some of whom we have received documented training.

Notice in the previous photo, how the moisture barrier is held up & away from the openings until the windows are reinstalled, after which (see above) it is brought down to overlap the top nailing fins.

Southeast Portland, not far from Laurelhurst Park.

As it so often begins for our clients…a window seems to be leaking. Failed attempts to stop the leak by caulking around the window is another familiar story we hear over…

…and over. A quick exterior inspection reveals an adjoining roofline suspiciously close in proximity to the place over the window where the water is showing up.

And another roofline on the other side of the window. And a wall bump-out directly above. All these architectural factors frequently prove to be areas where contractors…

…encounter difficulty in applying proper flashing techniques. Sure enough, the water trail quickly leads us up the roofline where relatively…

…recent repairs by someone else failed to stop the return of a previous water penetration problem. This also leads to the discovery of a disintegrating moisture-…

…-barrier above this area. From what we could discern, it would be easy to speculate that the previous home owner perhaps hired a handyman to affect the repairs prior to…

…putting the house on the market, forestalling the problem just long enough to get the house sold. Also, one of the strange phenomenon’s that we frequently…

…encounter is that the extended exposure of the moisture-barrier to the moisture that somehow gets past or around the siding appears to result in the…

…”disintegration” of said moisture-barrier material. It seems extremely curious to us that someone would fabricate a moisture-barrier that can be destroyed by moisture.

A Lake Oswego property near Westridge Elementary School.

The trees make it difficult to see the pertinent exterior wall and related windows, or even much of the house for that matter, but the arrow should give you the general idea.

As almost always, the windows are considered by our client to be prime suspect as to the culprit behind the water showing up…

…here. It’s a totally logical assumption. Windows are openings of a sort, and something is clearly open that shouldn’t be, if there’s a water penetration problem.

Occasionally there’s a flaw with the window that allows for water penetration. We’ve seen vinyl windows frames with holes in them, or wooden frames so rotten as to have created a hole channeling water down into the wall.

And almost any time windows are suspected, as they most often are, the windows become the recipients of a liberal application of caulking all around them.

It’s rarely known among homeowners, but the seam between the top of the window-frame and whatever siding there is, is actually designed as an evacuation point for water that somehow gains access past the siding above the window.

So caulking the areas that seem like the most vulnerable and logical place for water penetration is actually a mistake.

It’s almost always a flashing technique problem behind the siding that allows water to get into most of the walls we work on. Moisture barrier overlapped backwards from the way gravity requires. Like siding or roofing overlapping from below instead of from above.

It’s almost always something that simple, as it was here. We had need to only remove the siding, reapply the moisture barrier and then replace the siding. Fortunately, there was no water damage to the structural wall components.

The stucco experts tell us that when properly installed, stucco and EIFS stucco do very well in the Willamette Valley.

This house in the west hills is the masonry type of stucco as you can tell by the dust clouds in the photos above showing our technicians cutting through the exterior walls. You can enlarge the collage by clicking on it.

After making the cuts, we employ the use of hammers and pry-bars to pull the stucco out chunk by chunk.

We are told by our client that he installed the stucco himself, and intends upon reinstalling the replacement stucco after we are finished repairing the structural wall components (wall-studs, plywood sheathing, etc.).

No offense to our client here, but there is something to be said about hiring a professional for certain things.

Which is not to say that there aren’t many professionals doing substandard work, for indeed this entire section of our portfolio would not exist were it not for that fact.

From a rather unique angle, Tim Afonin is shown here going about the task of replacing some of those damaged components.

Here we have a well-covered exterior door assembly, but due to the water cascading down through the wall cavities, the jamb assembly rots from the wall-side out.

So the door assembly is removed (see the rotten header-support beam above it) and a new jamb assembly is assembled on-site, into which the original door is to be hung.

And after all the surrounding structural wall components are replaced, the door assembly is reinstalled.