Brentwood Windows & Doors, Kept Dry from the Eave Down
Older Brentwood windows and doors kept dry from the eave down, with drip caps, sill pans, sealed end grain and stainless fasteners, and the trim kept.
Rain reaches a window from above, so on an older Brentwood house we treat the eave, the head casing and the sill as one path for water. A bent metal drip cap over the head trim throws water clear of the joint, and a sloped sill with a groove cut under its nose drops it away from the wall. Near the coast, damp air and salt work on metal too, so caps and trim nails go in stainless or copper.
Pans and laps at a full-frame opening
When a window comes out down to the framing, a formed pan goes onto the rough sill first, with its back and ends turned up so water can leave only toward the face of the wall. Flashing tape laps over the pan at each jamb, and the head piece laps over the jambs, every layer shedding onto the one beneath it. On stucco, a narrow band is cut back so new building paper can be woven into the old before the patch. Any kept casing that will touch the pan is primed on all faces first, since bare end grain soaks up damp quickly.
Garden doors and ember rules
A door to the yard sits lower than any window, which puts its threshold in the path of the most water. We set it on a pan with end dams, pitch the landing outside away from the house, and keep that landing a step below the sill where the framing allows. A kept wood door gets its bottom rail sealed on every face before it is rehung. Where a Brentwood parcel is on the state fire hazard map, new glass and exterior doors may need to resist embers, and we settle that with the city before placing the order.
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The wall under the sill gives the first clue. Clean stucco or siding there, under a sash with firm wood, says the sash can stay in its own frame and be reglazed, given new cord and weatherstripped. Stains, blistered paint or soft wood there point to failed flashing, and a full-frame replacement then lets us rebuild the drainage from the framing out.
Head trim and the drip cap are traced along with the sash, since those lines show most from the street. New units are ordered in wood or a narrow clad frame to the original sash widths and grille layout. Sound exterior casing goes back over them, with a new cap bent to the old profile so the shadow line above each opening stays the same.
Window work on a Brentwood lot is permitted by LADBS, the building department of the City of Los Angeles, which this neighborhood belongs to. All new glass has to carry energy ratings that meet the state code. Where a sill pan or new flashing is part of the job, it stays visible until the inspector has had the chance to see it, and only then is the stucco patched.
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