Is this window leaking?

[randynavarro]

Click to View

48.8 KB

This is the bottom rail of the slider portion.

Click to View

17.72 KB

[AHI in AR]

Randy--

I can't tell quite what I'm looking at in the bottom pic. It looks like insulated glass so I'm betting on a vinyl frame. If that's the case, I can't tell what the material is that looks like rust bubbles on the lower photo--unless that's an interior shot and it's drywall dust.

If it's a vinyl slider, the bottom tracks will collect water. That's why they have weep holes on the exterior. Unless they are plugged, there should be no problem with water getting inside. I have seen a lot of well meaning but uninformed home owners who have dutifully caulked the weep holes. (Insects also sometimes build nests there, so some manufacturers put a screening material in the holes.) If the owners deliberately plug the holes water can overflow out on to the interior side since the sill height is typically lower there.

Also, some times the installers put them in upside down. If that is the case, there are weeps at the top and not the bottom. Brilliant!

[randynavarro]

The top photo is the establishing shot (that' for you, Mike).

The bottom photo is the same window from the interior. The "rust bubbles" you're seeing are on the bottom rail of the slider portion of the window.

They're vinyl frame, dual pane, Milgard windows.

[Richard Moore]

Really, really hard to tell but I seem to be looking at wood in the 2nd photo, both at the sash (judging from the seam) and at the sill (from the discolored paint).

As for the various "bubbles"...rust??? It almost (I stress almost) looks like frass of some weird sort and I wonder if you may have some sort of imported beetle damage?

BUT, just based on the photos and without poking at it myself, everything is just a WAG. Hell, could just be harmless crap they sloppily painted over.

[randynavarro]

Nope, no wood in the pics. The window sill is MDF but it barely shows in the lower right corner of the top photo.

I'd paste one of those colored oval thingies in the photo with an arrow or something to clarify but I don't have a photo editor that does that. I'd have to insert the pic in Word and go from there.

Too much work right now. . .

[Richard Moore]

Sorry, didn't mean "sill" but rather the frame channel beneath the sash. I'm gonna shut up now as I have no idea what would cause that "bubbling" in vinyl.

[hausdok]

I think a little bit of rain has been getting into the vinyl around the cell and has been reacting with the aluminum divider strip.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Tom Raymond]

Randy,

That sash should have weeps on the bottom of it, they are plugged or missing and either rain water or condensate is collecting in the sash rail and leaking out through the glazing bead. The internal weeps under the IG unit may also be covered by the setting blocks or missing altogether. This will be much harder to fix or diagnose if you are not familiar with reglazing vinyl windows. The stuff on the bottom frame component I think is also coming from the weep issue at the sash. Also, most weeps holes are slotted rather than round to prevent surface tension from stopping them up. Elongate the holes if they are round and less than 3/8" in diameter.

Tom