Mishko Teodorovich, Founder of Town & Country Custom Homes in Austin, Texas, is a premier homebuilder and an expert consultant specializing in mold-resistant construction. He has served as an expert witness in construction defect and mold litigation cases. He has received Master's Degree in Engineering from The University of Vermont in Burlington, VT, and has recently designed an innovative sill pan, SureSill, for windows and doors that will transcend current moisture management products. For more information about Mishko visit www.mishko.com.

When planning a new home, renovation, repair, or maintenance, the most prominent factor in selecting different options for homeowners and contractors is cost vs. value. Top priority should always be given to solutions that will prevent decay or damage and promote the longevity and extended life of the building. The advantages of a "healthy" home range from lower maintenance costs to better resale value; and the "do-it-right" crusade is more in demand than ever before. Homes with such solutions will bring peace of mind to homeowners and contractors and confidence to insurers. Adjustors and insurance companies are more likely to compensate for damages that clearly do not result from construction defects and lack of maintenance, especially when they are not faced with repetitive moisture-related damages.

Evidence gathered from investigations and evaluations of many water-damaged buildings suggests that one of the most prominent place for water damage and mold to occur is beneath windows and doors. This evidence also suggests that most causes of water intrusion for both windows and doors are the same - and so are the solutions.

For the purpose of this text, we will refer to the opening in the exterior wall where the window or door is to be installed as the rough opening; and we will refer to both windows and doors as the assembly. With the term water intrusion, we are referring to water and moisture that has found its way into the interior of the building or inside the wall cavity, through the rough opening that houses the window or door assembly.

There are a number of incidences where water manages to intrude into the building or wall cavity:

1. Through the glazing - The seal around the glass loses water-tightness over time.
2. Through the assembly sash. The joints on four corners, or elsewhere, lose water-tightness, due to expansion and contraction, etc.
3. Through the seal between the sash and the jamb. The seal, usually in the form of a rubber gasket, decays over time.
4. Through the jamb.
5. Through the sill.
6. Between the assembly and the flanges.
7. Around the assembly at locations where vertical and horizontal flanges meet.
8. Between the assembly and the rough opening. (This can be eliminated by proper installation)
9. At the top of the assembly. (This can be eliminated with proper installation and adequate head flashing).

Sometimes water intrusion into the building is visible and is indicative of a defective assembly and/or defective installation. In these instances, the assembly can be repaired or replaced. Most often, water intrusion shows no visible signs of entry into the interior. Water that accumulates along the bottom of the assembly enters the wall cavity underneath the window assembly. Undetected, it becomes a hidden menace inviting damage and decay to the inside of the wall cavity and to the jamb. Effective solutions for this problem were typically time consuming and costly to install, primarily due to a lack of user-friendly products on the market that would adequately address this issue.

Many assembly manufacturers recommend that a sill pan be installed underneath the assembly, ever increasing the need for a solution that can be applied across the industry.

A strong innovator in managing moisture intrusion is SureSill, a sloped sill pan for windows and doors. This product features a three-sided up-stand to prevent water intrusion and vapor infiltration, and an open end, for water to discharge towards the exterior of the building. Its most unique feature is a slope that channels water to the exterior of the building and allows it to freely drain, combined with a raised horizontal surface for proper installation of the assembly. It is user friendly and cost effective. Manufactured from PVC, SureSill is durable and can withstand harsh demands of the construction site. Another unique feature is that SureSill can be cut at the building site to fit any rough openings and assembly, up to 12' in length, providing a sure fit, preventing special-order delays, and ensuring a waterproof and drainable sill pan that successfully addresses the problem of moisture intrusion around windows and doors.

For more information and features of SureSill, visit www.suresill.com

12/5/03
 

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