Help needed

[Phillip]

I need a little help. I have no idea what is causing this. This is close to the front door. There is a porch on the front of the house and the garage is on the other side of the wall.

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I have 100% moisture reading. I check the attic and no water is getting in above it. The walls in the garage show no high readings or damage.

Here is a larger view of what going on.

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Here is a close shot. I am the one that probed it.

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I was on the edge to say it was getting in at the front door which the trim has a high moisture read until i found it in the dining room at an outside wall. Which I open up the vinyl siding and did not see anything.

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Any ideals?

[Erby]

Any pictures of the outside near these two areas.

What about liberal application of water on the floor during mopping getting soaked up into that trim.

Was WRB behind the vinyl?

[Marc]

What building material is that damaged molding made of?

It doesn't have to be wet to make the surveymaster peg at 100% if the material is even mildly electrically conductive.

Marc

[John Kogel]

That is MDF, is it not? There is not much doubt that there is moisture there.

Maybe a plumbing pipe is leaking in that wall.

Also water can run a long way along a sill sometimes, and it could be leaking into the attic near the eave where you can't see it.

[Jim Baird]

How high is the level of the garage slab? I have seen filled earth/crusher run above sill levels on the garage side of a frame wall, with nada but some flashing to coantain it, putting outside of wall below grade. Penetration might be occurring from under slab.

[Les]

I am thinking like Marc. Also, it sure looks like the swollen material is from bottom up, so look at that seam to the floor. Then maybe that is where shoes or boots are often stored or the water has been introduced from a leaky aquarium - just trying to think outside the box. Seen stranger things. Is the door really an exterior door - undercut?

[hausdok]

That looks like a 10% moisture reating - not 100%. My meter only goes to 99.9 - it never displayes 100.

Got a dog there that might typically exit that door to relieve himself and might use that wall if someone doesn't immediately open the door? My little guy seems to always demand to go out at about the point where his bladder is going to burst. Even the slightest hesitation on my part enroute to the door has resulted in "accidents" near the entrance.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Kogel]

That looks like a 10% moisture reating - not 100%. My meter only goes to 99.9 - it never displayes 100.

I saw that, but his other pic shows the meter in the red, so he does have high readings.

Got a dog there?

Yep, this calls for a sniff and taste test.

Bring it to a Lab!

Black, Golden, or Chesnut, no matter. []

[hausdok]

Nah,

For real results you have to give it the lick test. [:-tong2]

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Phillip]

Any pictures of the outside near these two areas.

What about liberal application of water on the floor during mopping getting soaked up into that trim.

Was WRB behind the vinyl?

To everyone this is an forcloser house. No one has live in it since the first of the year.

I don't have any photos Of the areas behind them.

The one at the front door is next to the garage which the slab for the house floor is higher than the garage slab.

Standard drywall which I scanned and did not get any moisture reading.

The outside of the other one isnormal vinyl side that has house wrap.

[Phillip]

The trim is MDF. it is swollen material is from bottom up.

It is at the front door which is setting on the metal jam that has weather striping.

It is 100% I watch it go up and when it hits a 100 the light go out.

It taste like chicken.

I'm thinking that some of this stormy weather blew it in. As far as I could tell there is no water pipes in the area and I looked hard in the attic above them. There was no high moisture reading above these places.

[Phillip]

This is a shot of the front of the house.

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This is the right side of the house the area that the damage is, is to the right

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[John Kogel]

Sure, blame it all on Hurricane Isaac!

Good bet you are right, if that wall is facing the wind.

The raw backsides of that MDF will be growing little mold farms. If the people search around, they can still find real wood trim. I know I can get wood here if I look for it.

Wood doesn't soak up water like a sponge, why we used to use it to build with, eh? []

I'm sure the dog would give it one sniff and then take a leak on it.

[kurt]

I would normally associate that darkish stain @ the left side casing with water under the door.

There's barely a door out there that's got a pan under it. They all leak. A hurricane would make it leak for sure.

[Tom Raymond]

Modern entry doors are designed to withstand rain at a rate of one inch per hour with a 25 mile per hour wind load in 20 minute cycles. The door would have leaked regardless of the flashing details durring Isaac, we exceeded those rates here.

[Scottpat]

Slab construction.... Hose bib and HVAC lines near the area. HVAC lines are most likely going straight up the wall to the attic. The water supply for that hose bib is most likely coming up from the slab, so this where I might start looking for the problem. It could be condensation from the HVAC lines, but the house has been closed up for awhile I'm betting on a pin hole water leak.

[kurt]

Modern entry doors are designed to withstand rain at a rate of one inch per hour with a 25 mile per hour wind load in 20 minute cycles. The door would have leaked regardless of the flashing details durring Isaac, we exceeded those rates here.

Are you saying that any entry door is going to leak, regardless of flashing details?

[Les]

I'm not in the water leak camp. It seems, from photo, there has not been very much water, just enough to swell. I'm sticking with water introduced from within space.

Kurt, I think Tom is talking abt the weatherstrip only not the frame etc. I agree with you re typical door iinstall.

Most of the trims here are finger joint paint grade, plastic (various) and super expensive wood. Some mdf and artificial imitation super dooper secret stuff.

[Tom Raymond]

Modern entry doors are designed to withstand rain at a rate of one inch per hour with a 25 mile per hour wind load in 20 minute cycles. The door would have leaked regardless of the flashing details durring Isaac, we exceeded those rates here.

Are you saying that any entry door is going to leak, regardless of flashing details?

The air and water leakage standard is 1" per hour rain and 25 MPH wind for 20 minutes. Exceed any one of those and water will be driven over the threshold riser, under the sweep, or through the junctions in the various weatherstripping. So, given the right conditions every door leaks.

[kurt]

Well then, I'm curious. We see POS big box steel doors @ 3rd fl. roof decks all the time; these doors get hit with crazy gusting wind, often reaching >50mph in Spring and Autumn, with slashing rain. Really crappy doors are holding out weather if they're panned and flashed. They go to hell after a while from zero maintenance, then they leak. Then a new door goes in, and it doesn't leak anymore.

I'm not advocating cheap doors....I hate them. I just see cheap doors working wonderfully if they're installed satisfactorily and not blown out from years of service.

[Phillip]

The doors around hear do not have any type of pan flashing. They are lucky if they get caulked.

I would like to think everyone for their input. It gives a person something to think about.

[tybertown29]

Depending on how long the house has been vacant. If the house was not properly winterized or if a hose was left on the bibb during the winter there could be a leak on the down hill side of the valve. Only leaks when hose bibb is turned on.