External wall insulation problem

m0t

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I had EWI installed on my house last month and although there were a few minor issues during install it looked good and was completed without problem.

Yesterday I was in the back bedroom and noticed a small drip of water running down the window coming from above the top of the frame. A little later this had got larger and I was developing a puddle on my window cill.

Having looked around the outside of the window there isn't anywhere for the water to get in and to my untrained eye it looks like the only possible entry point is at the top of the insulation. The would mean water running behind the plastic top trim then down behind the boards and into the window.

The company are sending a surveyor out on Wednesday to look at it. Is there anything I should be insisting that they do to fix the problem?

I haven't paid the final instalment yet so hopefully they should behave themselves.
 
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I had EWI a while ago and they installed the over sills tilted toward the window frame so water pools up against the window.

If you can, check that the top trim is angled appropriately (i.e. so the water falls away from the wall), and that it's suitably sealed between the wall and the trim.

Oh... and keep hold of your money until you are 100% satisfied!! :)
 
I take it you mean an internal drip of water? You may be right and water might be getting in higher up and running behind the insulation boards. But even so, how does it then get in? Water running behind the boards should really just run down the outside of the window - not the inside.

Another possibility is that your wall has always been a bit leaky but you've never known about it because the water simply exited via weep holes - which is what it's supposed to do. Were there weep holes above your windows before, which have now been blocked by the EWI?

Photos of the external would help.
 
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No weep holes that I was aware of, I would assume that they would have done something if there was.

I'm assuming it runs behind the boards and pools inside the render at the bottom and eventually seeps through.

We had a similar problem with the door below where water was getting behind the old render and running down to the top of the door frame and then back into the house.

The windows were flush with the outside wall before the insulation was installed and we hadn't had any leaks in the past.
 

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I think you're right, it looks like it must be getting in from above. A good look at the roof/coping/detailing needed. Don't let them fob you off with sending a bloke up a ladder with a mastic gun.
 
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I've had the company out this morning and they have recognised a slight fault with the top trim.

It is installed at the correct angle and the join to the wall is protected by the tiles.

The issue is because the wind over the weekend was driving the rain directly into the wall and pushing it under the tiles.

Normally to prevent this the trims are siliconed on to the walls but for some reason this wasn't done on ours.

They will send someone out to pull the trims forward and fire the silicone in.

If this doesn't work I will make them lift the tiles and put some flashing up.
 
Interestingly this also was not done on ours. The building control inspector pulled them up on it and had them silicone it and also filet with mortar
 

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