Driving rain entering wall. Suspected window problem.

[Thomas Jar]

Thanks in advance for your help!

During driving rain in a specific direction, I get water entering my basement. It appears to be coming into the front wall of the house, running down the wall, and then hitting the top off my basement wall and running down into the basement.
The wall in question is brick veneer and has one window on the second story (first story is covered by a garage). Upon looking at the wall, I noticed cracks in the caulking around the window. I took a hose and sprayed water all around and on the window for a while and was able to reproduce the problem.
Now, I have no problem resealing the window with new caulk, but here are my questions/concerns:

1/ The house is relatively new and the caulking is already badly cracked. I worried this may be due to the width of the gap being caulked. It seems VERY wide. Is there a minimum standard for the space to be caulked around a window?

2/ Assuming water was able to penetrate the caulk, should there not be some sort of window/sil flashing to direct the water back out?

3/ Assuming water penetrated the caulk, and there was no window flashing, and the water enters the wall. Should the through-wall flashing of the brick veneer not catch this water and direct it back out via weepholes? Does it seem normal to have the ater run all the way down into my basement?
Thanks.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Try this .

http://www.buildingscience.com/docum...ain-prediction

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-103-understanding-basements?topic=doctypes/digests

http://bct.eco.umass.edu/publication...tion-barriers/

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by Thomas Jar

Thanks in advance for your help!

During driving rain in a specific direction, I get water entering my basement. It appears to be coming into the front wall of the house, running down the wall, and then hitting the top off my basement wall and running down into the basement.
The wall in question is brick veneer and has one window on the second story (first story is covered by a garage). Upon looking at the wall, I noticed cracks in the caulking around the window. I took a hose and sprayed water all around and on the window for a while and was able to reproduce the problem.
Now, I have no problem resealing the window with new caulk, but here are my questions/concerns:

1/ The house is relatively new and the caulking is already badly cracked. I worried this may be due to the width of the gap being caulked. It seems VERY wide. Is there a minimum standard for the space to be caulked around a window?

2/ Assuming water was able to penetrate the caulk, should there not be some sort of window/sil flashing to direct the water back out?

3/ Assuming water penetrated the caulk, and there was no window flashing, and the water enters the wall. Should the through-wall flashing of the brick veneer not catch this water and direct it back out via weepholes? Does it seem normal to have the ater run all the way down into my basement?
Thanks.

Yes ,brick veneer requires proper flashing to direct water out.
The subject is complicated without total details so visit the links Roy provided .

[Thomas Jar]

Thanks. I did look through the provided links, and they were helpful. However I am not in contruction so my next move needs to be to call someone. Would you suggest a window company, masonry, or a home inspector to have a more thorough look?

[KEVIN WOOD]

I would say HI but it would depend who and where!
I would say Mason but it would depend on his keeping up with Continuing Education!
I would say certified window installer only if it applied to the window problem!
IE caulking dried out, wrong size window frame and no proper flashing.

[ROBERT V. YOUNG]

Windows are the weakest element in the exterior envelope.
Broken, cracked, wide opening in the windows opening are the facades worst enemy.
Maximum width for caulking is 1/4 of any inch. A bit more but I use this as a rule.
Backer rod is placed into the opening then the silicon caulk atop the back rod and in contact with the adjoining surfaces. The caulk must be compressed ( applied with force ) to contact the adjoining surfaces. Fashion a tool.
No 3 point contact when you caulk. Only 2 surfaces. It allows that caulk to stretch.

Start with your windows and wait for the results.
Come back if the water infultartion are still apparent.
I do this for a living.

Backer rod. Any building material box store.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/back...sulator/947894
Flextra caulking. Highly recomended. No siliconized base or latex caulk.
http://www.mulco.ca/en/Detail/produi...uits_c_ext.htm
Most sizes in the window section.

[John McKenna]

Good answer Robert.

This thread is a good example of how any gap in the exterior can lead to
massive moisture issues, once the driving rain starts hitting the house.
Water can flow uphill when the wind is strong enough.

[ROBERT V. YOUNG]

Thank you Mr. McKenna.
All I can can say Mr. McKenna is that InterNACHI education and hard long hours of education are teaching me to explain the observations I have witnessed during my life long involvement in the trades. The past 20 years being almost exclusively on exterior facade restoration and repair.

[David A. Andersen]

I would recommend that you contact someone that can identify and document what is actually happening beyond your view of the water coming out of the building envelope so you know whom to call and where to approach the problem from.

[Carl A. Brown]

Where are you and do you have any pictures you can post?