How to stop entry door leaks?

A lot of my doors and windows have a piece of angle tacked above the top trim & it seems enough to make it drip away fro the door or window. The older ones are lead, or something really soft, but so long as it is metal it should work. Drip edge for roofing comes to mind.

The problem isn't the door; it is drainage around it. It is obviously sitting in a puddle at times.

Build up the soil around it so water flows away. You may have to put in a stoop or sculpt the lawn.

Not build up the soil, but remove some of the soil!

Wind driven rain runs down the outside of a door to the threshold where it is supposed to flow down and off without entering the house. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Some finds it's way in around the door edges and weatherstripping. If it can't run in directly it may wick in through the smallest cracks.

I believe this is a common problem that many people are unaware of because water soaks in under the flooring around the threshold and goes unnoticed until the problem becomes a major one.

Two of my neighbors have the same problem. By the way we are all building are own houses and are living ln them as they are being completed. I found and corrected a few problems that would not have been very visible once the finishing had been completed.

After a few unsuccessful attempts to stop the water leaking in, I ended up installing storm doors on all my outside doors. Not a drop of water on the floor after that.

The storm doors keep the inside door warmer during the winter. They may eventually pay for themselves in reducing heat loos through the doors.

LdB

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When I built the shed shown below, I installed vinyl drip edge on the roof edges. When I looked at the trim above the doors, it looked like a place that could used some protection, so I installed a piece of drip edge on top of that and caulked the seam. When it rains, I can see the water dripping out away from the doors so it appears to be doing it's job.

I say you are correct. Often door jambs are not prime/sealed at the bottom, so water wicks up into the wood.

Caulking is best done when the door was/is installed, not as a fix later on.

Exterior doors clean the sill, caulk along the jamb sides the width of the threshold. Run two 1/2 inch beads of silly-caulk the length of the threshold and set the door. Apply some foot pressure to seat (TH).

Caulk lines (top view)

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Three doors leak, none of which are anywhere close to the ground.

1. Garage entry door. Top is protected by a 12" roof overhang with a full gutter system. Bottom of door sill sits about 4" higher than the concrete walk in front of it.
2. Back door of house. Gable roof end only overhangs about 6" and is approximately 12' above the door. The sill of the door is roughly three feet off the ground with a wood landing about 6" below the door.
3. Front door at in-laws. Hip roof overhangs about 18", but no gutters installed. Door sill is roughly three feet off the ground with a wood landing about 6" below the door.

In all cases, the only source of water would be windblown rain, or splashback from the deck/patio below the door. The doors can't be raised any higher and still comply with stair height codes.

Anthony

Yep, we had the same problem with the entry doors of our old mobile home. No amount of caulking would prevent the leaking, but a storm door did stop the water.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons I do not want storm doors on the doors that are leaking. Especially for the garage and back doors where we're often hauling large objects in and out. My in-laws just splurged on a decorative door and don't want to cover it with a storm door.

Anthony

Then you need storm doors if rain is that intense.

ie: sculpt

Oren,

When I installed the doors I wrapped the wall felt into the door opening. Then I applied flexible door/window flashing tape along the bottom of the opening, extending it about 6" up the sides of the rough opening. Next, I applied the flashing tape along the sides of the opening, and finally along the top of the door. All layers overlapping in shingle fashion.

Before setting the door in place, I ran three beads of caulking along the bottom of the rough opening, with a little extra along each side in the corners. I also ran a bead around the outside of the opening, so the brick moulding sealed against the sheathing when I fastened the door in place. After installing the siding, another layer of caulk was applied between the siding and brick moulding (top and sides).

I also caulked all seams on the exterior door trim, jambs, etc. EXCEPT for the bottom of the door sill. This allows any water that might find it's way in to have a way to get out. The gap is covered by lower trim, so there's no way water can splash in from the outside. The beads of caulking under the door sill ensure any water that does end up under the door should go out and not into the building.

Once the door was fully installed, I also caulked along the inside of the door sill, and about 12" up between the framing and door jamb on each side. The larger gaps up higher were filled with minimally expanding foam.

On the outside of the door, I caulked the seams on each side where the metal sill meets the wood jambs.

Despite all my efforts, water is still coming in somewhere (showing up as a small leak on the subfloor right in front of the door jamb, centered on the door opening). At first I thought it was water dripping off the bottom of the door when the door was opened, but my in-laws confirmed it shows up even when the door has been closed all night.

In the future, I'm thinking of installing special sill flashing like

Anthony

AZ Nomad wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ip70-176-155-130.ph.ph.cox.net:

Is it on an eave side where the water splashes up? If so, you need to stop the water from splashing or stop it from running off the roof so intensely. Mulch may be a quick half effort thing but that may get washed away and/or dragged in the garage and/or just look like crap.

Can a rain diverter be put under the shingles above? Certainly would help minimize splashing.

They're called gutters.

Actually, they are called roofs or awnings. This is one of the things we lost when deep covered porches went away. Exterior doors really need an overhang over them. They also need a step down in front of them, so there is no ponding at threshold level. My garage service door has same problem, but I won't replace it until I figure out how to lay some pavers in front of it a couple inches lower than threshold level, and maybe also add a little eyebrow awning over it that doesn't look TOO tacky. Front door needs a roof too, but short of adding an actual dormer to the house roof, no way to do it that would look right. Top of door is only a couple inches below the soffit. Overhangs on that part of the house are only 18" or so, instead of the 36" they should have been.

-- aem sends...

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What Eric is referring to is called Z flashing. One edge tucks up under the siding above the door or window, the center (horizontal) section extends over the top edge of the door or window and the opposite edge extends downward at an angle outward. The whole purpose is to keep water off of the top edge and from running down the side. Therefore, it's important that it extend outward past the right & left sides of your door or window.

AZ Nomad wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ip70-176-155-130.ph.ph.cox.net:

Gutters are another option. What I was mentioning is the strip that under the shingles a few rows up and slants to one side.

But if wind driven rain against the door is the root cause, none of that will help. As mentioned, storm door.

Is the door closing TIGHT ??? I had that problem on 1 door out of the 4 I installed and I moved the latch in a bit to hold the door closed tighter and it is fine now...HTH....

Does this door have a transom window above and/or side lights at the door? Water can travel, even along an outside light that needs a little caulk around the edge trim.

A picture of your trouble spots, perhaps?

Post @

I could have used one of those before installing my garage entry door. Only a problem with wind driven rain, but it only takes a very light wind.