Water Leaking Around Windows

11 years ago

Current Location: manchester, ct

We are currently experiencing hurricane winds and rain and I noticed a damp spot under one of my windows facing the wind/rain direction.

An hour later, the spot was much bigger and squishy. Cut to 3 hours later and there's now a hole in my wall under my window where the wall is slowly starting to crumble away (about the size of my fist currently). I can see the water dripping in! I have dish towels stuffed up in the hole right now, which seems to be controlling the water flow from not going down my wall. However, I have to change the towel every hour as is soaking wet. Now I'm noticing damp spots around 6 of my 10 windows!!

The house was remodeled over a year ago and new windows were installed. We purchased it from the remodeler last june.I had noticed that there is no caulking around them, so I'm assuming this is part of the problem. Could it be that there is a larger problem, such as no or improperly installed flashing??

I understand that I will need to call in some repairs. My questions for this are:

1) would insurance cover this as im assuming its because of the wind? We've had many rain storms since we moved in and have had no water damage that we've seen prior.

2) if not, how much would it cost to have the walls removed, windows corrected, then resealed correctly?? I'm afraid I'll have to take out a personal loan as I won't be able to afford it and these repairs are desparetly needed.

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Comments (2)

alan_s_thefirst
11 years ago
I would talk to the builder you used. I don't know about renos but new construction is guaranteed for several years. Despite the extreme weather, that should not be happening.

I would follow the builder route first.

If you can, try and prevent the water coming in, by stopping up the holes on the inside, you may be directing the water elsewhere in the wall. Boards, tarp or builder's plastic if you can, from the underside of the soffit down if you can.
toxcrusadr
11 years ago
It sounds like morwil did not hire the installer, the windows were put in by whoever s/he bought the house from.

Did the previous owner do it himself, or hire a contractor? Is there any way to find out whether there is a warranty on the windows or the installation?

Hurricane winds can drive rain into places it would not normally go, but if there is no visible caulk it may indeed be a faulty installation.

Insurance coverage is going to be a question for your agent.

The cost of having this fixed is going to depend on what kind of siding is on the outside of the house. Windows are put in from the outside, so the outside wall will probably have to come off around the windows. It's going to be a different job if it's vinyl, wood, brick, etc. And of course how many windows there are.
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