Illustrated story of water damage

The southern porch on the keepers house is one of my favourite rooms.  On sunny days the multiple windows act like a green house, warming up the room to very comfortable temperatures even without heat on.  However, it was also one of the most damaged rooms in the entire duplex.  Other than the water damage from the flashing leaking around the western chimney, no where was there as much water damage as in the southern porch.

Southern porch on keepers house - sun porch

Some of the problem was the windows.  The storm windows were missing, much of the window glazing was gone or in bad shape letting water in, and the single pane windows sweat and frost over.  The ceiling showed signs of water damage from the roof.  The roof itself had two layers, asphalt shingles and rolled roofing but still the water came in.  The walls were often wet after it rained and the dry wall was crumbling and mouldy.  The window trim was turning black in places from the constant water penetration.

The first attempt to stop the water coming in was to strip all the roofing material and reshingle it but water still came in.  The cedar shingles were peculiar under two windows that are over the southern porch, much too thick than they should be so it was decided to tear off the cedar shingles under the windows and see what was going on.  Once the step flashing was exposed, where it was attached to the walls of the house, great holes in it were visible, however, the flashing extending under the asphalt shingles looked good.  This was definitely one of the sources of water penetration and because the boards run diagonally, water from anywhere along the step flashing would be directed into the walls in the sun porch on both sides because the boarding changed directions in the middle of the house with both sides directing water back to the sun porch.

Corroded flashing under the cedar shingles. 

Keepers house during construction in 1958.  Note the diagonal sheathing boards.

Investigating where the water was getting in - not under the window but from above and travelling down the diagonal sheathing into the southern porch.

Looking at the water damage on the inside of the southern porch walls, coming from the main house (blackened wood).

The peculiar thick shingles were explained by a lack of knowledge of the person who tried to fix the leaks at one point, perhaps when the southern porch roof was reshingled and flashing replaced.  Instead of tapering the ends of each shingle as they worked up the wall, full thickness shingles were layered on top of each other causing the thickness to become unwieldy.  The shingles also did not extend up into the groove under the window sill allowing water to be blown up and under the shingles and thence down the walls.  The shingles between the two windows above the sun porch were bulging so the entire wall was stripped and the flashing replaced.

Incorrect layering of cedar shingles above the southern porch which covered corroded flashing.

Stripping off all of the cedar shingles and flashing above the roof on the southern porch to redo and stop the water penetration into the southern porch.

New step flashing.  The roof had been reshingled and the new shingles had to be removed so the flashing could be replaced.  The corroded flashing couldn't be seen because of the incorrect layering of the cedar shingles.

Flashing under the windows as an added precaution from wind driven rain.

Cedar shingle debris from stripping above the southern porch between two windows.

Completing the cedar shingling after repairs. Plywood covered windows until new storm windows could be installed to prevent an additional source of water penetration.

The original door was returned to the sun porch replacing a steel door that no longer opened or closed from swollen door frames.  The intent was admirable to try to stop the water damage by installing a steel door but without a storm door, water still came in on the floor and the three layers of floor boards were water soaked and rotting.  Although the bottom floor boards looked okay from the cold rooms in the basement, the wood was very punky and a large section had to be torn out.

Returning the original wooden door to the southern porch.  This had been replaced by a steel door but did not solve the problem of water coming in under the door because there was no storm door.

Reglazing windows after old door was returned.

Damage to floor inside the southern porch from years of water coming in under the door.

Removing the subfloor in the southern porch to replace the rot.  The upper layer was a new product in 1958, MDF or particle board.

Patch in the subfloor.  The southern porch sits over the cold rooms in the basement.

Carrying out the plywood for the southern porch floor.

The water damage was worse on the western side of the sun porch than the eastern side which is easily explained by the protection of the hill on the eastern side from driving south east rain storms but the entire porch had signs of water damage.

In the end, some of the dry wall and insulation was removed, the floor was stripped down to the subfloor and even some of that had to be replaced.  The roof was reshingled and the cedar shingles replaced.  The windows have been reglazed and storm windows installed  A storm door and weather stripping were installed.    The floor still needs to be tiled and the walls and ceiling painted and the trim and doors varnished.  Interestingly we found that the sun porch was poorly insulated with some sections completely missed, perhaps during one of the attempts to repair the water damage.

Cleaning out the drywall and insulation under the windows to make repairs.

Replacing insulation under windows.  Some of the windows were removed to complete the reglazing.  The paint was removed from the trim because it was originally varnished.

Drywall and vapour barrier has been returned, as are windows after reglazing. Layers of peeling paint on the walls also had to be scraped off, revealing the original paint colour.