Chasing the elusive leaking window
Of course windows only leak when it rains. Now that I'm in Oklahoma, where it seems to rain all the time compared to Arizona I have been chasing a window leak.
This one is in the bedroom slide, over the dresser. I did the simple thing first, tightened all the screws around the frame. Not any difference from doing that so at a later time I caulked around the upper portion of the window. That helped some but that action didn't solve the issue.
More rain and more water so I decided to pull the window and replace the paper thin OEM gasket with a healthy layer of buytl tape. That was a winner I thought, until more rain and more leakage.
I had been noticing water in the horizontal spreader bar in the window frame. I thought maybe the intrusion was coming from the where the two windows join and are held together with a rubber gasket. I sprayed the joint from the garden hose and didn't find any water in the spreader bar. That made me think that perhaps the water was trailing down the the side of the the glass and getting in somehow but I was positive I had made a good seal with the buytl tape.
Not yet ready to purchase a new window unit I started studying the window components. The fixed portion is adhered to the frame some how, maybe a buytl caulking such as used in auto windshields. That fixed portion of the window is above the spreader bar where the water had been collecting. One can't easily see anything but the edge of the window so I wasn't able to detect a problem.
I finally decided to clean the area around the fixed portion and the frame. I taped the edge of the frame tight to the slide wall and taped the edge of the glass.
Out came the Silicone, nothing to lose at this juncture of the chase so I slathered the Silicone in between the frame and the back of the glass.
It has been raining for two hours so far and as of 15 minutes ago not a single drop of water is sitting in the spreader bar.
Moral of the story, even if the fixed window is still stuck in place with all the goop, it can still leak.
EOS
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2013 Voltage 3800, 2012 Chevy 3500 HD
2010 Yamaha V Star 950
2009 Yamaha Raider
Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity Caravanners
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