Rainwater coming through frame beam/wooden lintel above gable end bedroom window

[Nikinokinoo]

Well I know the weathers not great but I didn’t expect it to start raining INSIDE our house?!

One of our bedrooms at the end of the house has a small window that sits under a beam.

Rainwater has been dripping in from the join between the beam and the window. We had the outside pointing checked and repaired about 5 months ago so can’t think where the water is managing to come in from and at such a rate?

Anyone experienced this before?

 

[malcolm]

The rain has been really heavy for a sustained period. I've been checking for leaks and gutter overflow and found two gutters that need cleaning out. It's well worth going out with a torch and raincoat to make sure the outside is shedding water as it should.

 

[Nikinokinoo]

Yes I took a look but there’s no guttering near that window…. I need to get up on a ladder with a hose I think!!

 

[Drayton]

It's difficult to mimic rain with a hosepipe... A leak sprung in the roof of our family home years ago. My mother sent my then-teenaged brother up with a hosepipe.

Great fun was had, lots of water was sprayed. Nothing showed inside where my mother was watching the leak spot.

Later she discovered the airing cubpoard, in another room, and its contents, totally saturated. She was not amused. That was the only time any water got into there.

 

[Nikinokinoo]

your poor mum!

 

[worms]

A pic of the outside would be good!

 

[Nikinokinoo]

 

[jamest]

I had a similar issue and I can tell you what I did that worked. Pointing the gap/join between the framing beam and the top of the window is insufficient - you need to caulk the gap first with a suitable caulking material, I used oakum and you should caulk all the way along the beam - i.e., between the brick infill and the beam as well as between the window frame and the beam. Once caulked, cover it with a lime mortar (perhaps with a bit of linseed oil mixed in for good measure). Not a good time of year for this kind of activity, but you may have had it done already, in which case where could the problem arise? One thing you have there is a mortice in the horizontal beam right above the middle of the window, which looks a bit rotted and filled (the white material around the joint?). Mortice and tenon joints can admit water over the years and rot at the mortice base, in which case water could be leaking through the mortice onto the top of the window frame and thence inside. If so, you need to seal up the joint somehow - similar procedure could work - i.e., firmly pack any accessible voids/gaps in the mortice with oakum and then cover in lime mortar. I confess to having drilled a little weep hole in the base of one mortice in my frame - don't know if that is accepted practice (I'm sure it really isn't), but at least any water that does get in can run out

 

[a twig]

View attachment 11515

It’s simple - the window is open!

 

[Nikinokinoo]

Genius!!!
Thank goodness for this forum!!

 

[a twig]

In an attempt to be slightly more helpful, directly above the middle of the window where the vertical timber meets the lintel there appears from the photo to be a hole / gap, plus the lintel itself has what looks to be evidence of some sort of previous repair (I'm assuming the white stuff is a filler of some sort). I'd start my investigations there

 

[Nikinokinoo]

Thanks that’s great. I’ll take a look