Water coming in through sliding glass door


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Old 08-04-17, 11:36 AM
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Water coming in through sliding glass door

I recently bough a house in South Florida where water was coming in through the bottom of a sliding glass door. The seller said he would fix it. He put some silicone around the bottom but that didn't do anything.

I got a quote from a handyman and he said there was nothing he could do but drill a hole to drain excess water. He quoted me $420 and said he'd need a special concrete drill. I laughed and he said he could give me $100 off. The door isn't sealed tight at the bottom. I can feel cold air conditioning coming out in some parts when I put my hand close to it. Attached are some pictures of the door and some of the damage. Is there anything I can do to fix this myself?
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Old 08-04-17, 11:54 AM
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Short of removing the door and installing new foam sealant along the bottom the only think you can do is get some good exterior caulking and seal the joints.

So what was the handyman proposing that required a "special" bit?
 
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Old 08-04-17, 12:06 PM
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He said he'd have to use a concrete drill to drill drainage holes. I believe it's stucco and not concrete but I'm not sure. I don't see any drainage holes like I've noticed in other sliding doors, I wonder if he was right and that's what it needs. If you look at the damage you can see the water is pooling up pretty high during storms.
 
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Old 08-04-17, 01:54 PM
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You can really screw things up with a caulk gun. Those sills have tracks that need to be able to drain. Sometimes they leave a flat spot on the sill ends for water to escape, other times there are weep holes. Andvsometimes they get caulked shut by an over eager beaver. Can't tell without being there which it needs, but if one guy looked at it and said weep holes I would tend to believe him.

Problem is, if stucco was laid over the weep holes on the front edge of the door sill- raising the grade on the exterior side of the door- it's no wonder water is pooling in the sill... it can't drain out! Water has to be able to run downhill.

The sills can also get caked with dirt or bugs which plugs the weeps. So if I could give advice I would say blast it with a hose and scrub it with a brush, then blast it agsin. Look to see if exterior weeps were caulked shut. Sometimes drilling into the face of the sill from the outside to make a bigger hole is the answer, but you could do that easy enough.
 
 

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