Weep vents positioning above a steel lintel

[SairHeed]

During periods of wind driven rain I experience water ingress at the corner of a large window, which has a steel lintel above. The previous house owners' carried out major modifications including the enlarged window replacement. From the outside I can't tell whether the steel lintel is simple angle bar or catnic.

Given the water ingress, I do wonder whether a cavity tray was fitted above the lintel and if so, whether stop ends were fitted. Could stop ends be retro fitted or would it require the whole lot to be opened up and start again with a cavity tray?

In the photograph (taken some eight hours after driven rain) you will see that the weep vents are set into the blocks some 2 to 3 inches above the steel lintel, and above a fillet of Fyfestone block. Are these weep vents in the right place or should they be directly on top of the lintel base plate to work effectively? Will it be possible to fit new weep vents lower down without damaging any cavity tray that may be fitted? If so, I'm hoping that the new weep vents will do their job and possibly prevent the need for cavity tray intervention.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jj4091]

I'm not a professional builder but it looks to me like you have a Catnic lintel above the window, which is, as far as I know, what you would need to build the outer skin on. That is how we did ours and the cavity tray went from the top of the catic and under the bottom of the outer skin. There were no weep holes or end stops installed with any water ingress simply running off ends of the tray and down the cavity. The darkend mortar above the lintel suggests to me that water is collecting on top of any cavity tray or the lintel itself and seeping out through the outer skin. I would suspect that the ends may be obstructed, perhaps by spilled mortar during construction. If you are getting water ingress across the cavity into the inner skin then it could be by capiliary action under the lintel. Personally I would seal between the top of the window frame and what appears to be a lintel with silicon as a first step before doing anything more drastic.

 

[23vc]

The weep vent height may be ok if there’s a cavity tray at that height, but wrong if they’re relying on the (cavity) lintel as a tray. Exploratory hole might be a good bet, might be able to get a camera in etc.