We had our home recently renovated, and after a large rain, during AZ's last monsoon season, we found a large puddle on water in the house back our new sliding glass door. After determining we didn't leave anything open we figured out that the issue was due to water coming from the track. After even more research, we found that the track our contractor install has no water rating.
Our contractor is saying that we approved the design of the door and they showed us that they were using the flush sill. We were never told that the because they selected the flush sill that we may have water leakage or shared the image below.
My question is how is a contractor supposed to calculate the "PSF" rating for a sliding door? Is there some sort of guide?
Best Answer
Generally speaking, there is no formal guide to choosing a door. However, a thoughtful contractor would have considered the potential for heavy rain and wind-driven rain (especially the direction weather comes from) when choosing a door. That said, it sounds like you did approve the materials, so this is partly on you.
Short of replacing the sill (which is tough), my best suggestion is to attach an additional piece at the bottom of the door that will slow driven rain down. This can either be a drip cap, a sweep, or a combination. Look at google images for "CR Laurence Door Rain Drips", for example.
Note that there might be factors that haven't come up that drove the choice: some homes don't allow a sill like that to be dropped enough that the lip at the interior isn't a trip hazard. Cost/timing may have played a role (ie, high lip = special order = $$$/slow delivery).