Serving Rockledge
Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion Rockledge, FL
Wind pushes rain sideways through window frames, stucco and the base of the wall. The roof can hold and the house still take water. The walls on the side the wind came from are traced first, at windows, sliders, the base of the wall and the soffits. Block that took on water is dried from inside the closed building rather than left to the outdoor air.
Shut off the water, then pick up the phone
Often needed alongside
- Humidity & Moisture Drying
When the outdoor air is wetter than the building, opening windows adds water. Drying means a closed building and conditioned air.
- Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding
Surge and tidal water rise from the ground up and carry salt and silt with them. Anything porous they soaked is treated as contaminated.
Frequently asked questions
Can new siding on an old Rockledge Drive house hold water against the wall?
It can. Most of the district's historic houses are wood frame, and a common change has been replacing the original wood siding with aluminum or vinyl. Rain or condensation that gets behind the new cladding sits against the old wood, where air no longer moves across it to dry it. Soft wood or paint lifting at the bottom of an inside wall can be the first sign.
Why do the porches on Rockledge Drive take so much rain?
Rockledge Drive runs some two and a half miles along the west bank of the Indian River, and every building in the district faces the river. Each house has a porch or veranda on posts across its main front, so the weather coming off the water meets the porch first. In September, wind-driven rain soaks the porch floor, the posts and the front wall behind them.
What should be checked on the gables of an older Rockledge frame house?
Houses in the Rockledge Drive district that keep their original exterior combine horizontal wood siding on the walls with wood shingles in the gable ends. Overlapping shingles hold rain in their courses longer than flat siding does, and they sit high on the wall where they are seldom looked at. Shingles that stay dark long after a storm, or have split or curled, mark where water is held.
These questions also sit on the Rockledge page, next to its numbers.