ᐅ Water Inside the Wall Frame: Construction Defect? (Shell Construction)

Hello everyone,

Our townhouse has had the windows installed for a few weeks now. Today, we happened to notice that there was water inside the window frames on the upper floor. It seems to have been there for a while because the drill shavings (or whatever they are, see photo) have already started to rust. This is only occurring on the windows upstairs. Downstairs everything is dry. Do you have any idea? Could the sealing pressure be too low? Is water coming in through the ventilation slots on the windows?

Thanks!

In my opinion, this is neither unusual nor problematic. Rainwater hits the window, frame, and seals, and then finds its way. Where you see the water in your picture, there is only one exit – through the drainage or ventilation slots back outside.

Thanks for your feedback! It rained quite heavily for a short time yesterday. But where is the water coming in? I thought the rubber seals were supposed to prevent that. Maybe through the ventilation slots? What also puzzles me is that it only happens on the upper floor. At almost all the windows (even on sides that aren’t exposed to the weather). We have never seen standing water inside the frame before. :-(

The water then stays there, and eventually, it will cause mold, right?!

Do you have a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery? Otherwise, you would probably have noticed this issue earlier. It is not normal for water to accumulate there and it should be fixed as soon as possible.

First, wipe away the water to rule out that it came from rain entering through open windows.

Then continue to monitor whether it was just the high construction-related moisture.

If it is still wet after that, have the mechanical ventilation system adjusted.

tomtom79 schrieb:

The fact that there is water standing there is not normal and should be fixed urgently.

Unfortunately, I feel the same way. I haven’t seen this anywhere before.

We don’t have a controlled residential ventilation system and are still in the shell construction phase. The roof isn’t fully closed yet. There is no drywall installed.

It can be absolutely ruled out that the water came from rain through open windows.

We have already sent an email with the photos to the window installer. Let’s see what they say. This whole situation is really frustrating me right now.

This won’t be the last defect... All the issues visible to non-experts are still to come. Therefore, speak politely and professionally with the window installer. You might also try directing a water jet at it to see if it actually comes from outside or if it might have been standing there for some time already.