What Would You Do?

Steve Unkie

I've built a large addition, 2 stories. The home owner bought Millguards best fiberglass doors and windows, fir clad on the inside.

We have had some storms here lately and winds upward of 60 mph. One door that took the brunt of the storm, leaked big time. It's like spraying the door with a pressure washer. The flashing is fine, it is the door. There are at least two points of entry, the weep holes and the bottom track where the active panel meets fixed panel. These are 12' double sliding doors.

I've talked to one Millguard rep and it appears that a 12' door is only rated for 20 mph winds.

Have any of you dealt with similar problems and how did you deal with them?

Steve Unkie.

Toothpick

Rated for 20mph winds? Thats not saying much for those windows. Never delt with Millgaurd so I am not familiar with them. First off if the homeowner is responsible for the windows and you installed them correctly, I would be keeping track of my time on the leak issue and any related damages and bill them accordingly. If these windows are something you recommended to them this could be a different matter. Did you have the window rep come out and acutally look at the unit?

Glasshousebltr

20MPH! Geez! Tell that little piggy to watch out for the big bad wolf!

Bob

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Bob

Steve Unkie

The Millguard rep. has'nt come out yet, but will. The home owner dealt with Millguard directly, I did not recommend them.
I am amazed that anyone would even sell a door system with such a rating. Apparently there is no upgrade to the door to make it more weathertight, as in 'one way baffles' for the weep holes etc...
We'll see what comes of this after the rep visits the site.

Steve.

Dave-Raleigh

Seems to me the fact that it is a 4 panel door assembly is irrevelant if its leaking at the weep holes and where the fixed panel meets the movable panel. I'd make the rep prove the 20 MPH spec to me and then make him show me the similar spec for a two panel door assembly.

Here is a link to a pdf file on the Milgard(same as Millguard?) about air infiltration and wind specs. Doesn't say anything about wind AND rain though. From a wind speed standpoint it looks like 90-120 MPH is the spec. I guess that would be to the point of frame/glass failure though.

http://www.milgard.com/_doc/products...fiberglass.pdf

Steve Unkie

Dave,
I've never really thought of this before, but in weather like we had, it's like spraying down the door with a pressure washer. If you can see daylight at any point then it is going to leak. Weep holes become leak points. Any gaps in weatherstripping does the same.
Maybe the answer is to protect the doors with other systems. We are installing a glass panel handrail system 5' in front of the slider, that will help alot. I always thought that any one system should be weather tight without the need for additional systems.

I'm anxious to talk to the rep. I'll post any info.

Steve Unkie.

TimNJ

I once went on a tour of Silverline's window factory and one of the areas they showed us was the testing room. They said they would arbitrarily remove a window from the line and set it up for testing for water leakage. Well, what they said was the industry test standard that simulated a certain rainfall amount in a certain time frame (I can't remember exactly what it was) was a joke. The window was a 4x5 bay. Imagine 4 hose sprayers from your kitchen sink spraying the window!

Teetorbilt

The info has been stored in the old memory banks. 20 MPH wouldn't get you through your average afternoon shower around here.

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

mci2980

[QUOTE=Glasshousebltr;162541]20MPH! Geez! Tell that little piggy to watch out for the big bad wolf!



That is funny stuff.

Steve Unkie

The Millgard service guys came out last Friday and tried to seal those gaps and stop leaks. It really blew today and leaked badly. Will see what they come up with this time.

brownie77

I am a Salesman for Pella in the New England market. One of the first things I was taught was to steer clear of 4 panel sliders. It is a absulute NO NO to sell these doors in a High performance enviorment. (Coastal,lake side, etc).

On paper, the design for these doors are great. Unfortunatly, getting them to the job, proper installation, and proper rough openings, are the issue.

Steve Unkie

Well the saga continues.
The service guys came out again and did all that they could but the disign is just not a good one. The homeowner was looking to me for a solution so here's what we are doing.
We are installing tile entrys in front of all offending doors. Our entry's will have a waterproofed trench/gutter that butts up to the door threshold so that any water that spills over the doors track will be captured by our gutter and drained our of our extra weep holes.
The backerboard is 3/4'' from the threshold and waterproofed. At either end of our gutter there is 1/2'' pipe that angles downward through our rim joist and exits the building. The tile covers the gutter except for 1/4'' so you only see a shadow line between the tile and threshold.
We will also have the owner sign a disclaimer stateing that we are not liabel for any water damage caused by these doors leaking and that all possible,related repairs will be charged for.
I'll post our results when finished.
Milgards response is still ' well in your location what do you expect'.
unbelievable.

Steve.