Velux Window Leak

[DennyDifferent]

During the heavy rain last week one of the Velux windows in my daughter's attic bedroom started to leak. I've had a quick look at it and there's clear signs of water getting under a metal bar on the right hand side and has rotted away a screw hole over time allowing the bar to loosen and then let in more water. I think that's what's happened, anyway.

This is the metal bar:

I've also made a quick video here which it might be easier to see:

Is this something I can fix myself? Ideally I'd like to fill the screw hole to allow me to screw the bar down properly again, maybe with some sealant to try and stop it happening again. I've spoken to a few window repair companies in the area but they all only replace Velux windows, they don't repair. Moreover, it's in the roof of a four storey town house so they'd have to get scaffolding up so it wouldn't be cheap and with the cost of living at the moment we're just not in a position to afford that. I need some way to fix it from the inside myself, really.

EDIT: I should add, the screw that's in that hole at the moment is a new one. I tried to replace the one that was there with a slightly longer one that might allow it to get some more purchase temporarily but it doesn't seem to have.

 

[Mr Chibs]

If the damage is not that large... perhaps you could remove the strip and drill out the rotten wood/screw hole and glue in something like a wooden dowel... use expanding PU glue (T. Station/ScrewFx) or expanding gorilla glue, chisel off top of dowel and sand back flush to the frame. Perhaps you might not need sealant if this fit is back to what is should be.

Good luck.

 

[DennyDifferent]

The problem I have is that I'm having to do it all from the inside, which severly limits what I'm able to do. Also, with it constantly raining the weather isn't on my side to give me time for the wood to dry out or anything. I know that ultimately it needs fixing properly or replacing, I'm just trying to come up with a temporary measure that can tide us over into next year where we might be in a better position to afford it. And it'll stop my daughter from complaining that she has kitchen roll jammed in the window frame This is about as far as I can lift the strip up from the inside and you can see the damage to the hole:

 

[Mr Chibs]

Looks like the water may be coming in from further up.
Been a while since I fitted mine (too high can't reach them), doesn't that trim unscrew?

You can then repair on a dry day from inside.

Failing that, you might have to do a lash-up with sealant until you can take it apart properly.

 

[DennyDifferent]

I assume it does unscrew yeah but I can only really get to the screw at the bottom from the inside that's the one that's rotted.

I've just made another video showing the trim and it does look like there's a screw at the top which doesn't look like it's sealed properly... I wonder if that's where the water is getting in. I could probably manouver myself to be able to squirt some sealant around that at least.