Project Images

Storefront Water Intrusion Testing | Los Angeles

We were called out by this client to a beautiful Los Angeles beach house because the storefront glazing system was leaking. Initially, this building looked flawless, on its face that is. After a few minutes of walking this project we had a good idea of its issues. We quickly determined that water had in fact been entering the building from both horizontal and vertical mullions. Storefront Water Intrusion Testing is a service we provide, and a great deal of it.

This was a big project. The amount of glass (it wraps the front facade) makes getting around this building a real trying task. Leave it to the MAZZA testing guys to figure the very best and most effective way to manage this.

Water Testing Storefront

With our Storefront Water Intrusion Testing, we would test from the bottom to the top. Utilizing the spray-racks ability to sit flat, like testing roofs. Our guy Francisco would manage the hoist used to move the rack up and down while Steve, managed the water flow at the bottom.
The test would take the entire day with testing in increments of 15 minutes like with for example, the ASTM E1105 static test. Obviously this did not include the repositioning of the rack system.

On the interior, from the suggestion of the contractor, we chose to create a negative air chamber or at least a modified version of one. Since we were unable to attach sticks onto the aluminum frame like in the AAMA and ASTM standardized tests, and the glass was more or less even with the mullions, separation would be impossible. However, the owner and contractor still wanted to see the difference between simple static pressures and negative pressure tests.

Moisture intrusion testing and Results

The chamber was made and utilized on a smaller section of glass. All things considered, this method would produce results fairly quickly. And it did.
Moisture intrusion or Leaking, was observed throughout the glass facade from the bottom to the top. And just about any glass to frame connection. The use of thermography was essential in discovering leaking throughout, that was not visible to our eyes. these areas included connections of the storefront to the ceiling and walls throughout. Secondary leaking was observed within the deck system. Obviously the result of our tests. Nevertheless, it was an important discovery.

Needless to say this Storefront Water Intrusion Testing helped the contractor better understand his scope of work after we were finished testing. Moreover, it made his task easier and probably was able to produce a more accurate estimate to his client.

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