Water Leak
We have a water leak, we suspect on the unattached side of our brownstone, and have consulted an engineer who said we could probably define where it was coming from by watering the side of the building for an hour with a hose. If that showed no effect we could repeat the process on the…
We have a water leak, we suspect on the unattached side of our brownstone, and have consulted an engineer who said we could probably define where it was coming from by watering the side of the building for an hour with a hose. If that showed no effect we could repeat the process on the back wall and lastly again by flooding the roof. However, we are older women for whom the prospect of hanging over the edge of the roof with a garden hose for the best part of an hour is not terribly appealing. Is there anyone who would do this for us, or does anyone know of another way to test for water. We know that inside the walls are saturated. We have recently had a parapet cap installed (6-7 months ago). We have also recently had the roof patched and it was pronounced in fine shape.
I had the same problem on my brownstone. I use NYC Restorations, Inc. (nyc@implda.com) and they fix the problem.
Thanks for vm response Vinca. Will check out links and take it from there.
Thanks for the response Denton. Did you mean that you should be able to actually see leakage on the interior while you are hosing the exterior?
Several questions: Did the leak appear only after the parapet work and roof patches? Who declared your roof in good condition? Can the wall(s) in question be accessed from the garden level, rather than by hanging over the roof? Your leak may be originating from the roof, depending on how either/both the roof patches and flashing were applied. It’s also possible that your bricks need to be repointed (i.e., new mortar between the bricks), or maybe also a problem of aged brick. Here are a few links to review. There are certainly more or better links, but these were easiest to find for starters. Leaking roof from a parapet wall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtsWvjsVY_w
Roofing links and resources (click on “Building Components: Flat Roofsâ€):
http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/weatherization/resources/roofing.html
Repointing brick:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,232787,00.html
That’s the right way to do it but that also assumes you can see inside the wall while it is being done.