Included in TLS #49 (Myths and Realities, Spring 2005) was a discussion of ways to deal with moisture at the bottom of windows. David Eisenberg shared a written design detail for a pan under the window to carry water away from rather than down the wall. We wanted to share a drawing of this detail and David kindly provided one for us to share in Tech Tips.
Here’s the portion of the discussion in which David details this design idea.
“Protecting the bales beneath the windows requires that you catch the water under the window and make sure it gets all the way out of the wall. In other words, ideally, you would have a pan of sorts under the window, sloped slightly to the outside, extending a bit beyond each side and with a lip at the back and on each end (so water can’t just run off the ends), and extending out beyond the exterior wall surface, with a drip edge – so that any water that leaks through or runs down the sides of the window ends up in this pan and is shown the exit. You can make these pans out of metal, plastic, ice and water shield, cast this shape into a concrete sill, anything that will keep the water from leaking through it, but the principal thing here is to make sure that the water can’t get into the wall below the window. You can put your window sill material, whatever it is, on top of this pan flashing being careful not to punch unsealed holes when you install the sill. It can take a little thought and ingenuity to do this, but it assures you that, when the windows leak, the water leaves the building.
