Sort of a siding/wall leak issue- advice requested

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kevbob

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Hello!

Hey there- we have a leak that emanates from this concrete deck (photo attached). If you see where that broom sits, underneath that is a wall to the first floor, and the siding was not sealed well against the weather. So, if you train a hose there, water pours down in the room. Next: Under the sliding glass door, all along the deck- if you let water flow there awhile, it finds it's way to the same place, into the bedroom underneath and behind that wall by the broom.

Question: I'm not a leak/seal expert, but I could see how a caulk gun might take care of the problem.

If this was you, would you do that, or something else?

thanks in advance!

deck.jpg
 
:welcome: to House Repair Talk!

Has this issue just started or has it been going on for a while? Are there gutters above? If so, are they clean? Is that a new or old door?

Caulking is not a long term cure.
 
Someone broke every building 101 rule when they pored that slab.
It was pored to high.
Never should have been that close to the doors threshold or the siding.
I'd bet if you pulled that door out there no flashing and it was done wrong.
What type siding is that?
To do this right the door needs to come out and the siding need to come off.
 
Is there wood behind the siding or is the foundation that high?.
Best fix might be to lower that slab one step if you can still get drainage to some where.
 
Thanks for the welcome and the replies, folks! I added a bit more of the view so you saw how it is positioned. That slab up to the wall is actually a suspended deck. The wall behind the broom goes right down to the ground 1 floor underneath, and of course, so does the wall. The slab is fully suspended by a deck structure. So, with that in mind, a re-pour would be pretty involved, to be sure. We've been in this home for 3 years, and this never happened to us before, but it's about 13 years old (as is the sliding door), and it looked like it had been patched in the ceiling of that room (below and behind the broom position) at one time. So, while it was a new issue for us, it sounds like it was seen at least once before. We had some pretty heavy rains this last winter, more so than the winters before. We have about a 1 meter square cut out of the ceiling in the bedroom downstairs, so once we know what we can do up here, we can replace the drywall ceiling and paint it up.

So, the slab has a roof overhang above it. I've crawled all around the attic up there above the deck, and did not see a leak anywhere else. It was reproducible by putting a hose to the deck and concentrating the spray in a couple spots that I mentioned in my first post.

Siding: It looks like a bevel siding, but I am not entirely sure if it is wood or a composite material right this moment. (I'll dig through our house docs to see what was described in either the builder specs or sale docs.)

I hope that helps with a bit more context, thanks for the replies.

bigger view.jpg
 
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The roof does protect it most of the time, any thing you do against the wall will be mostly temporary, but can be attempted.
You might consider another wall at the edge of the concrete deck fill with windows.
Or a 24" skirt roof over the area to add more protection.
 
The context is helpful. I bet the contractor assumed the deck was protected so he took a shortcut on waterproofing that wall. It reminds of the old joke;
Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do this.
Doc: "Well then don't do that."
Using the hose lightly or not at all would certainly help the situation. Does the deck drain away from the house?
If you can remove the last two rows of siding, you may be able to see the problem spots and make a repair that will be mostly invisible.
 
The context is helpful. I bet the contractor assumed the deck was protected so he took a shortcut on waterproofing that wall. It reminds of the old joke;
Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do this.
Doc: "Well then don't do that."
Using the hose lightly or not at all would certainly help the situation. Does the deck drain away from the house?
If you can remove the last two rows of siding, you may be able to see the problem spots and make a repair that will be mostly invisible.

The have put he deck right on top of the foundation wall so the bottom plates are sitting on the deck. Stopping the water there will be tricky and if you are going that way you would want to raise the door a few inches too.
 
I would want to install vinyl decking, the thicker stuff is considered roofing and there are lots of brands.
http://tufdek.com/

It runs 6" up behind the siding and runs under the door like blue skin.
It is fairly easy to raise the door with a 2x4 cut to match the thickness of the door. We always raise them anyway at least that much so you can put trim over the edge of the floor on the inside.
 
Thanks a lot for all the great replies, much appreciated! With this information, I'm definitely going to get a pro over to check it out.

"Does the deck drain away from the house?"

Well, while the water doesn't really flow back as such, and this was the first time that the problem really manifested itself so significantly that it leaked through the ceiling, it has to be REALLY storming for anything to get back there. (We've had the hole in the drywall in the bedroom downstairs there for a few months now, and it's not come in again since around when we had to open it up.)
 
What if you treated the space between the wall and the deck like a shower stall and used fiberglass tape and mortar behind the siding.
 
Perhaps an awning? I've seen them made of glass so you won't lose any sunlight.
 
This might be a crazy suggestion but maybe you could cut channels into the concrete to allow water to drain away from the siding - if spaced evenly it might just look like a design or for better traction.
 
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