Damp patch around fanlight over door

[cjmort]

Hi.. I live in a stone terraced house that has been repainted and had new rain water goods and felt support trays. Around 4 years ago we had a new composite front door with a window above it.

After a day or so of heavy rain we get very wet walls on the corners of the ceiling/walls at the top of the window above the door.

Can please anybody shed any light on what this could be? My neighbour has also had rain water good renewed.

For a long time I had these jobs done to solve the water but it’s still happening and I am now thinking is it something to do with the door? Even though everything looks sealed and perfect outside

 

[mattylad]

What are "rain water goods " ??

Pictures would help, inside and out, close up and showing a wide area.

 

[cjmort]

Sorry for confusion, gutters downpipes etc all new! Will get a picture tomorrow. Thanks for a reply!!

 

[cjmort]

See images. They are the top corners of the window above the door. It looks much worse as we are decorating but there’s no ‘damage’ as such. It just gets very wet after prolonged rain

 

[JohnD]

What is above that ceiling?

Looks like a roof leak to me

Unless you dry washing nearby, causing condensation.

 

[ronniecabers]

To be coming in so high I think that's something above the door, normally door leaks manifest at the bottom as the water runs down the door. What's above the door? Is there another window?

 

[crank39]

Water doesn't run uphill so i'd be looking at something above the door, pictures from outside would help

 

[cjmort]

The window (bedroom) has no sign of damp whatsoever or any sort of water ingress and the house is repointed etc. baffling me at the moment. Will get a picture of the outside when I can! Thanks all

 

[ronniecabers]

It may be the seals on the outside of the upstairs window, allowing rain to get in ? If it has concrete window cills it could be those ( have seen it before ).
If the rain is getting in the bottom of the window in may not show around that window. Water finds it easiest path out , which in your case , looks like it's hitting the lintel above the door frame and then seeping into the properties plaster

 

[JohnD]

Unless you dry washing nearby, causing condensation.

Do you?

Or is there a bay window or porch roof above?

 

[dc1977uk]

I had similar around a window not so long ago, took me a while to work out what was going on.
When it was raining I could see the a single brick above the window (externally) was damp whilst others around it were dry. What was happening is that rainwater was finding away from a drain above and capillary affect to the brick where the water then found a way to the internal block work and result was damp around the top and sides of the internal window.
I think you may be suffering from something similar, capillary affect of water ingress is very hard to diagnose.
For me the cause was simply a few twigs and leaves that were hanging from the roof gutter touching the external brickwork, the capillary affect mean't water was travelling through the twigs and leaves and onto my external brick work!
As soon as I removed the offending twigs and leaves the problem immediately disappeared.
When its fully dry in the summer I will touch up the external mortar as there must be pin size holes, but water will always find a way.

When its raining again (wont be long!) stand outside and find the external area where its damp and follow it back. Ideally you will have vertical rain and not the horizonal type! In my case it was one drop of water every 8 seconds from the debris touching the brickwork that lead to quite a damp patch similar to yours. So we are talking about a very slow and subtle capillary affect.

Check the external wall thoroughly around the affected area as the water source could be quite some distance above (and a little to the side) of the internal damp.

 

[cjmort]

Update; above the door is concrete lintels with stone work and floor joists above.

Today I cut the joist ends off and cleaned the pockets in the stone work to see if there was any sign of water etc. nothing (but what I can access isn’t as far forward as the front door so I could be missing it still.

Window above the front door drains well - I tested the weep holes in the half open window and it ran clear at the bottom.

Should I maybe drill holes in the bottom of the window frame? As there is no weep holes in bottom of the frame.

Last thing to do is seal around the window as it’s pretty old but doesn’t look particularly bad.

Just another bit of info - my neighbours house is desperately needing repointing and he’s currently renovation due to some damp issues. I’m not 100% but after checking my window I’d say this water could be coming from his side?

 

[cjmort]

Hi. Another update. Still soaking with heavy rain. Window has been sealed on the outside and even sealed under the concrete sill. Absolutely no improvement.

My neighbour has bad damp and I have no other option to now think it must be coming from his badly pointed stone work which is very close to my boundary/front door? It must be moving across the wall some how though which is why I can’t commit to it being his house causing it. I just find it hard to believe that rain is going across the wall and under my window that quickly. But maybe it will.

Around my windows is brickwork - I am even going to get these repointed as they haven’t been done.

 

[Loofah]

Can we get some pics of the outside?

 

[cjmort]

Can we get some pics of the outside?

Will get them asap within an hour. Really bad rain currently and inside the stone wall under my upstairs window is pretty wet. We are convinced it’s coming from next door as he has had very bad damp issues, but the hard thing to believe is how it’s coming so far across under my window, and not only that, but the stone on the inner side of the house wall is getting wet. It must be letting in so much water somewhere