Missing flashing on doors bricked in

[Leland S.]

I recently finished a townhome development project that had in the plans sliding doors leading to what were supposed to be floating balconies. A few months after receiving U&O, almost 1 year from being "dried in" with brick and Hardie fascia, my one tenant reported water dripping into the house from the inside trim surrounding these slider doors. I inspected and found two of the other units had the same issue. I asked the manufacturer for their installation instructions and reviewed the pictures I had from rough-in and find they had never installed a top and bottom flashing. In fact, there are gaps between the brick and the vinyl door surround all around the door. The GC never even bothered to try and caulk the doors. (FYI as I know someone will say "have the GC cover it under warranty" - I fired the initial GC who installed the doors at framing and the second GC took over from framing. The second GC just said it's not his problem because the first GC installed the doors). 

I had one door installer out to look at the situation and they recommend removing the doors from the inside, installing the correct flashing, then installing the doors from the inside. This sounds like the best approach to avoid removing the brick but I don't know if the flashing will work as well since the brick is jammed up against the door surround as it is. I'm asking the manufacturer what their recommendation is. I'm assuming it will be to remove all the brick surround, pull the windows and doors, and reflash everything. Since it's not just door replacement I'm having trouble finding a window/door contractor willing to take this on. 

What I suspect is that the 3rd level doors are getting water leaking back against the framing from their threshold and it's dripping down into the 2nd story doors. As you can see the taping job is pretty pathetic or non-existent on the house wrap, it's just leaking right back into the house. I'm guessing they also didn't caulk or otherwise seal the window/door upon installation. It makes it more complicated with the transom window directly above the doors. Above the transom is the brick lintel. There is no sealant between the lintel and the top of the transom window, so water may be crawling back there too. Around the sides of the door is just brick mortar which already exhibits cracking and gaps, as I see all over my brickwork. I wouldn't think brick mortar should be jammed right against vinyl. I would expect some kind of flashing would be an ideal attachment point that also prevents the brick from transferring water directly into the framing. 

To those who have encountered this or know how to install doors, what would you advise?

[Nathan Grabau]

If you have an installer that says lets do x and it avoids messing with the brick, that is what I would do. That should not be a huge line item, and people replace sliding doors and windows all the time without messing with the opening beyond putting in new flashing and caulking it. 

I would go back and look at your contact and see if there is anything about "by completing work, contractor certifies that all work done before them has been performed correctly" and if you do not have such a clause, I would have your lawyer add one for future contracts. I would also encourage you to have a waterproofing/ envelope consultant. While they are a pain in my butt on new construction jobs, they whip people into shape and something like this would have gotten caught. 

From what you are describing, depending on your state laws, you probably have very little recourse here.