Water leaking through jitsome sheathing behind header board. Please help!

Moved in 6 months ago. House is ~30 yrs old in TX. Water is coming in through the mortar above a downstairs window (It’s a 2 story house and I’ve confirmed the leak has nothing to do with the roof). By stress testing with the hose a dozen times over the last few weeks, the water is undoubtedly coming through the pictured section of brick between the two windows. The problem is that on the inside there’s excess mortar that dripped down the interior side of the jitsome sheathing at the bottom of the header. I assume it’s been like that since the house was built, but could be wrong. I can’t see the actual puncture in the sheathing, but it obviously is since water pours down it when I put the hose on that exact spot for more than 5 seconds. What’s been done so far: Before I narrowed down the entry point, I recaulked both windows. Did some spot mortar repair on the outside in some of the seams. That didn’t fix it so I hired someone to grind out and remortar the vertical seams on left and right of the herringbone section of brick. They also applied a thin bead of water proof silicone then put fresh mortar in top. That limited the amount of water coming in dramatically, but once again when I hose test the middle section of the brick, count 5 mississippis, and we’ve got water coming down the excess mortar below the header. So now I’m at a loss for what to do next. I should pull all that brick out, find where the sheathing is penetrated, repair it, then rebrick the wall. But not confident we’ll be able to salvage all the bricks when taking them out and we can’t find more of that exact match. At a minimum I think I need to have the same mason come back and do the grind out/repair of the middle section. Or I could cut into the header from the inside, but everyone I’ve talked to has said absolutely do not mess with the header. But I know brick needs to breathe and just sealing the outside doesn’t fix the root problem which is a puncture in the jitsome sheathing. I’m your typical suburban dad that likes to tinker and fix stuff, but this is outside of my scope. Any help or advice would be much appreciated! submitted by /u/Ras-Al-Kewl [link] [comments]

May 31, 2025 - 21:54

Moved in 6 months ago. House is ~30 yrs old in TX. Water is coming in through the mortar above a downstairs window (It’s a 2 story house and I’ve confirmed the leak has nothing to do with the roof). By stress testing with the hose a dozen times over the last few weeks, the water is undoubtedly coming through the pictured section of brick between the two windows.

The problem is that on the inside there’s excess mortar that dripped down the interior side of the jitsome sheathing at the bottom of the header. I assume it’s been like that since the house was built, but could be wrong. I can’t see the actual puncture in the sheathing, but it obviously is since water pours down it when I put the hose on that exact spot for more than 5 seconds.

What’s been done so far: Before I narrowed down the entry point, I recaulked both windows.

Did some spot mortar repair on the outside in some of the seams.

That didn’t fix it so I hired someone to grind out and remortar the vertical seams on left and right of the herringbone section of brick. They also applied a thin bead of water proof silicone then put fresh mortar in top.

That limited the amount of water coming in dramatically, but once again when I hose test the middle section of the brick, count 5 mississippis, and we’ve got water coming down the excess mortar below the header.

So now I’m at a loss for what to do next. I should pull all that brick out, find where the sheathing is penetrated, repair it, then rebrick the wall. But not confident we’ll be able to salvage all the bricks when taking them out and we can’t find more of that exact match.

At a minimum I think I need to have the same mason come back and do the grind out/repair of the middle section.

Or I could cut into the header from the inside, but everyone I’ve talked to has said absolutely do not mess with the header.

But I know brick needs to breathe and just sealing the outside doesn’t fix the root problem which is a puncture in the jitsome sheathing.

I’m your typical suburban dad that likes to tinker and fix stuff, but this is outside of my scope. Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

submitted by /u/Ras-Al-Kewl
[link] [comments]