Water under wood door

[markblue777]

Hi all,
So I fitted my door on the porch as you may know if you are reading my WIP. However, we had a bit of a down poor last night and when I open the door the draft excluder brushes off the water that seemed to be sitting under the door and on the sill

I felt under the door and it was very wet. Just seems the draft excluder stopped it from coming inside.

The sill plate is level so no lean back to the house seems the driving rain went under the door though and just pooled where it was flat

What can I do to combat? Actually after writing all this I just thought. I have not go a drip edge on the door, so it prob needs that or else the rain will roll down the door as it is and fall back under won't it? Explains why the from of the door was wet at the bottom ( about and inch or so from bottom of door up was wet)

Hopefully it drys out today and I may need to get the heat gun on it tonight to and then I need to try and get a few coats of teak on it to protect it as well.


May have answered my own question but thoughts appreciated as I may be well off.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi,

a couple of thoughts

1) Like you say, a proper weatherboard - with its own drip groove - along the bottom of the door would help a lot.

2) I'd have made the threshold fall (slightly) away from the door - not level like you say yours is (I guess you may not be able to do much about this now) - to discourage ponding under the door. I take it that you have fitted a threshold strip of some kind.

Is the bottom of the door (esp. the endgrain of the stiles) sealed to prevent the door wicking up all this moisture? How are you draught-sealing the door?

Cheers, W2S

 

[RobinBHM]

Assuming the door is open in, the threshold should have a water bar and the door should be rebated over it. The position of the water bar has to be on the inside of the weather seals on the jambs. Any water running down the sides of the door can then only exit outside. If thats all ok, then a door drip is worth having as it will throw any water running down the door over to the edge of the threshold.

Traditional water bars are just galvanized section, more modern ones are plastic with a draught seal bubble.

Inward opening door thresholds / cills need to be flat under the door, so there is always a risk of water pooling somewhat. A better system is an aluminium drained and vented weather bar, since it is wide enough to cover the flat area, water will pool inside the extrusion, but exit holes allow the water to go back outside. These bars also have good draught seals.

 

[markblue777]

Hey Both,
The door is an open out.

The door sill is flat with and angle section facing out (standard sill arrangement I believe), I believe the drip edge would make the water fall on the angled section and allow the water to escape.

I have a rubber weather strip up the sides and top of the door and across the bottom there is no weather strip but on the rear of the door I put a heavy duty brush strip

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p89277?table=no


It is an oak door with antique looking black furniture so looking to keep that theme so avoid aluminium drip edges. I was going to rip a bit of oak down and make my own drip edge would that be sufficient?


Robin is this similar to what you was mentioning

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p59445

Cheers
Mark

 

[RobinBHM]

I'd forgotten its a porch hence open out -the vast majority of UK front doors are open in.

I guess you have an open out frame which is rebated on 4 sides and weather seal going around 4 sides?

So there is issue with water getting inside just pooling under the flat part of the cill? Ideally the cill and bottom of the door would be angled, but not all cills are made thiis way.

A drip fitted to the door would help, although driving rain will work its way between frame and door.

An angled cut on the door, a rebate or a biggish drip groove can all help to increase the effective gap under the door and encourage the water to evaporate (small gaps in joinery are bad as they hold water. The rebate or angled cut is on the inside face. It cant be very big, since the door still has to seal against the rubber as it shuts.

Sand or route a radius on the edges of the door will help with your finish (coating manufacturers advise a 3mm radius on all outside edges) and seal the bottom of the door stiles very well.

 

[markblue777]

Hi Robin,
Yeah we went with out for the porch to enable a bit more space on the inside.

I have a rebate on the 2 sides and the top. there is an optional extra the could be put on the bottom (as the frame is interchangeable in or out open) but I have left the bottom one of as it is more of a trip hazard for the 2 kids (and us) and the missus has to get the buggy in and out so it would end up coming off anyway no doubt.

the cill is similar to this, the flat part at the top is flat though really. (whereas this img looks to have a slight angle on the top, it may just be the lens though)

So you recommend putting an angled cut onto the inside of the bottom of the door (which will be covered by my draught excluder)

Cheers
Mark