How to fix leak at base of balcony door frame?

[dzg]

Hi, we are having a leak that appears to be coming from the base of a balcony door frame as shown. Hoping someone more experienced than me can recommend how to fix. Noting that we paid a tradie already to fix this ~2 years ago and it appears not to have been done well, as looks much worse now than before. see zoomed out photo for the before photo and the zoomed in one for latest. wall is wet as trying to see where leak is.

Thanks

 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @dzg,

Does water tend to pool against the wall at the base of the door, or does the balcony drain freely away from it?

It looks like some silicone has been added previously, but it’s sitting quite low against the tiles and timber. There are a couple of gaps on either side of the timber. It wouldn’t take much standing water there to overflow the seal and get into the cavity.

If the balcony is correctly graded away from the wall, I’d suggest removing the old silicone, checking and repainting the timber (if it’s still in good condition), and then re-sealing the corner with a quality product such as Sikaflex 11FC. Make sure it bonds well to both the tile and wall surfaces, and run the seal up high enough to stop any pooling water from creeping over it. 

Let me tag @Nailbag to see if he has any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Nailbag]

Hi @dzg 

A few points that stand out from these photos. the first is that the paint is peeling which indicates that it has never adhered to the timber in the first place and that a level of moisture has made its way between the wood and painted surface.

It's not going to be possible to determine where the water is originating from an online forum. It could just as well be penetrating from above as opposed to the obvious from the floor up.

Being a balcony, there is concern that water ingress has the potential to be more serious than whats obvious. My advice would be to seek the services of a leak detection company to gain an accurate assessment of the cause. This will then allow you to make a more educated plan of attack to rectify.

Nailbag