Water leak damage on the interior drywall and wood flooring caused by inferior caulking on the exterior windows and mullions. The leak was a slow leak that caused the interior water leak damage over several months in the rainy season. The cause of this window leak as due to the installation not putting a bead of sealant on the backside of the window flange. Most manufacturers have in their installation procedure manuals, to put a line of caulking around the entire back side of the window frame. The squeeze out of caulking seals the frame into the wood bucks and mullion tubes. This also causes a little bit of extra clean up to make the window installation presentable. We have seen many installations where the installer skipped this step and installed it dry. This acts like a second line of leak defense if the exterior caulking should fail. Water can seep passed the sealant line slowly or pour in depending on the exterior caulking applied. If there may be leaks in your windows, trust your intuition and call for repairs. The cost of leak repairs are far less than the repair bill to fix the damage that it can cause.
You can tell by taking a business card and inserting into the gap between the mulled windows. It should not be able to slide in easily.
No. This can be done by “pushing” sealant deep into the crack and fill the voids from the exterior. If done properly, caulking will fill the voids.
We can repair it as long as we have a few hours to dry it out and apply the sealant. Sealants we use will cure to touch in an hour and fully cure in 24 hours.