# Water Through Siding?



## GeoSeif (Mar 6, 2011)

When it rains, the carpet in the living room gets damp.  If it rains for extended period (like this last week) we can pull a quart of water out of the carpet. I checked the gutter above the area on the outside and it drains properly, but I was suspecting the lamp on the outside wall (which is directly inline with the wet carpet. I am not sure if this could be the source as the volume of water seem like a lot.  I have attached a couple of pictures.


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## inspectorD (Mar 6, 2011)

My bet is on the wall flashing which is behind the siding at the gutter area. This area always gets installed incorrectly. 
This is a pain in the neck job to fix. 
Remove the gutter.
Remove the siding with a "zip tool" which is a vynil siding removal tool.
And you will see if the wall flashing , called Step flashing, is installed so the water does not run behind the paper . (TYVEK)
Then install what is called a Kick out flashing  for the bottom piece of wall flashing, so when it rains, the water kicks back out into the gutter, not behind the siding paper.
Hope this makes sense, but this is the problem, 99% of the time.[
Try this link to see the issues involved.
url=http://www.kickout.info/gallery.html]Kickout Flashing Gallery - www.Kickout.info - Another great official website from Michael Leavitt & Co Inspections, Inc.[/url]


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## mudmixer (Mar 6, 2011)

Vinyl siding is in no way a waterproof barrier, so the water could be coming in anywhere and showing up wherever it can get out the easiest.

I hope you have a moisture barrier applied to the house before the siding was installed. If yo, it is only a matter of flashing under and over the moisture barrier so the water is shed outward and downward to drain away from the house.

Dick


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## oldognewtrick (Mar 6, 2011)

This is the biggest problem area on homes with vinyl siding. Either the roofer didn't know what kick out flashing is or the siding installer cut it back because he didn't know how to deal with it...or both. We see it all the time where siding guys will cut the kick out. It's really not that bad of a fix, but I'd recommend calling a legitimate roofing contractor and explain your problem. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two to stop this problem.

...and GEO, welcome to House Repair Talk.


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## Roofmaster417 (Mar 6, 2011)

I have seen this type of leak and 4 different types of workmanship errors were the culprits.


1.) As it was already mentioned the lack of a moisture barrier between the siding and the plywood wall.But just because a moisture barrier isn't used will not constitute a leak.

The water has to find a way to penetrate the wall.So the water would have to find either a hole or a seam.The plywood should have been installed a little lower than the foundation so a seam is IMO the likely area of penetration.The 3rd pic shows the wall outlet and the light fixture.

I would eliminate the outlet as a source of entry because of the location.IMO if the outlet was to blame its closer to the floor so IMO you would notice it alot quicker.So the light fixture is the next possible point of entry.

It appears IMO that the area of the light fixture is consistant with a seam of plywood at 8'.Its possible that the fixture siding mount could be installed incorrectly from to big of a hole cut into the siding for the fixture.That and no moisture barrier along with a seam is a recipe for water entry.

2.) Improper placement of the first or second piece of step flashing on the roof.In pic#3 it would be above the door in the extreme right corner above the gutter.

3.)Where the first piece of step flashing is installed on the roof.The siding is cut too far past the roofline towards the gutter.When that happens the first piece of step flashing cannot go past the roofline far enough to cover the hole in the siding leaving an area of water penetration.

4.) Its not even a roof related problem.The problem could be your patio.I have seen this numerous times with leaks that enter around floor level.The patios have improper slope and the water enters thru the far right hand corner when facing the back door around the step area.


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## nealtw (Mar 6, 2011)

Your picture of the window to right, can't tell if it has the proper flashing on top. Post another picture of the top of the window.


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## GeoSeif (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks for all the reply's, they were a lot of help.

I called the builder of the home (built in 2005), and he came out and caulked the crap out of the top corner above the leaky area. We have had rain since then and carpet was a little damp, so it did seem to help.  The rain was not as much as prior to the 'patch', so it wasn't a really good test yet.

I posted some pictures below of the area in question.  I think I will still have someone come out to look at the are as it seems like this might be the problem where water is coming in.


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## joecaption (Mar 13, 2011)

I'm with inspector D on this one.
Most of the time the siding guys leave the J moulding that runs down the roof to short, (it needed to run just past the end of the shingles) did not make a piece of coil stock bent into an L shape to put tight into the corner where the fashia is that meets the wall before the siding went up.
And do not run the step flashing past the end of the shingles just alittle bit, so the water that gets in behind the wall will drip into the gutter not down the wall.


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## inspectorD (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks Joe, 
I see this once a day, installed wrong and folks spending $$ calling in the roofer. Then the roofer does the same thing the builder just did and caulks it. 
What they need to do is call the siding company and get them Back to fix it.

Most guy's do not even know what kick out flashing is, unless they install clay roofs.

Just passin along what I have learned, heck even I installed it wrong way back in the day. It took one job to figure out I had installed it wrong, right after I finished the roof, the sider came along and papered everything with tyvek. The tyvek got installed right over my bottom flashing...and the rest was big mess one year later with, decayed siding, water in the basement and junk insulation. Just like the pictures in the link I posted.

Hope this turns out good for you, at least you don't have hardwood floors.


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