Cupola letting rain in the barn

[RobA]

I have a 42" square cupola on top of my tractor barn. Whenever a windblown rain comes through I get water coming in through the cupola vents. The cupola was installed over the roof trusses so working on the inside of it is difficult. Any ideas?

Here is an older picture...

 

[EddieWalker]

Since it's a wind driven leak, and it looks like it's part of your venting system, you might have to live with it. Changing the angle of the louvers would help, but it would be a huge undertaking. Blocking off the vents will stop the air flow.

I would caulk and paint the interior to make it water tight and let it be.

If that's not an option and you absolutely have to stop the water from coming in, then I'd seal off the vents and come up with another vent system.

Beautiful building!!

Eddie

 

[davitk]

As a band-aide you could suspend a drip pan from the trusses directly under the copula. I would suspect most copulas leak during a driven rain (many modern roof vents do as well). It sure is beautiful though. Copper roof?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

How tight is the wire screen behind the louvers? If you need to you could put a fine mesh screen on the inside of the vents and that will keep the big drops of water from coming thru. Then you could put a small piece of metal on the bottom of the screen to move the water back out thru the vent. It won't stop all the water but it should stop a lot of it.

This all makes sense in my head but I am sorry if it doesn't make sense to you or anyone else. Some times I have trouble making sense of my thoughts

 

[ToadHill]

When my dad had this problem, he made a tin box that he put behind the wind driven side. He put a small drain in the bottom and a small hose he ran from the drain to the outside bottom of the cupola and onto the roof. It solved his problem.

 

[RobA]

Thanks guys.

The cupola roof is copper. I had it built by an Amish cupola maker. I used some chemical concotions to help speed up the aging procees and turn it green.

There is a fine mesh screen on the inside tight against the louvers to stop bugs/birds. I was going to reinforce it with some heavier duty screening but haven't gotten around to it. When water comes in it lies on the 2nd story floor. For now I have put some left over metal roofing on the floor to catch the rain water. I thought about a drip pan. I was thinking of suspending a small plastic kids wading pool below the cupola and drain the water with a hose out through the soffit.

 

[Podunkadunk]

RobA,
That's one really nice barn man! I love the style (board and batten) and the look and feel. I'm sorry to hear about your leak and don't intend to hijack your thread, but I have a few questions about your barn.

What are the dimensions of your barn?

Is the siding cypress? It looks like Cypress, but I noticed you are in PA. Cypress isn't too common a siding up there (or is it)?

Would you mind shooting a couple pics of the inside?

Thanks. I'm building my pole barn with upstairs bonus room in the spring and am looking for ideas. Another poster put up a link a while back to many, many plans for barns, however I really like yours...and to think the good book says "Thou shalt not covet"....I guess I'm blowing that one

Podunk

 

[Soundguy]

I'd remove the louver vents and install window screen behind them...either in a small panel frame.. or just stapled to the back of the louver frame using a piece of 1/2" x 1/4" trim as a lip to hold the screening in.

soundguy

 

[rox]

Thanks guys.

The cupola roof is copper. I had it built by an Amish cupola maker. I used some chemical concotions to help speed up the aging procees and turn it green.

There is a fine mesh screen on the inside tight against the louvers to stop bugs/birds. I was going to reinforce it with some heavier duty screening but haven't gotten around to it. When water comes in it lies on the 2nd story floor. For now I have put some left over metal roofing on the floor to catch the rain water. I thought about a drip pan. I was thinking of suspending a small plastic kids wading pool below the cupola and drain the water with a hose out through the soffit.

Have you contacted the "Amish Cupol Maker"? Surely since he built it he would have the best advice.

 

[dqdave1]

I am assuming your driving rains come out of one direction normally. Since you have vents on all four sides, install glass over the wind driven side. Three sides will still allow for ventilation. Redo louvers to be longer and different angle also.

 

[RobA]

Have you contacted the "Amish Cupol Maker"? Surely since he built it he would have the best advice.

Never thought of that. Should have, but I didn't. Good idea.

I'd remove the louver vents and install window screen behind them...either in a small panel frame.. or just stapled to the back of the louver frame using a piece of 1/2" x 1/4" trim as a lip to hold the screening in.
soundguy

Cupola was built with a window screen behind the louvers. They don't seem to do much to stop rain.

I am assuming your driving rains come out of one direction normally. Since you have vents on all four sides, install glass over the wind driven side. Three sides will still allow for ventilation. Redo louvers to be longer and different angle also.

Redoing the louvers would be really difficult. Good idea about blocking 1 side. I have some Plexiglas that would work. As you said 3 sides would still be open.

RobA,
What are the dimensions of your barn?
Is the siding cypress?
Would you mind shooting a couple pics of the inside?

Thanks for the kind words. Before we had the barn built I looked at local builder's ads and pictures on the internet. We showed the pictures of barns we liked to an Amish barn builder and he made the plans.

Barn is 24'x48' with an 8' overhang. Wood is eastern white pine. I had it stained with a cedar colored stain. 1st floor walls are 10'. Sliding doors (on both ends so I can drive the tractor straight through and for cross ventilation) are 10'. Roof trusses were used and the 2nd floor has knee walls. Plenty of headroom on the 2nd floor. In order to make it simpler the dormers were built between the trusses and a small plywood walkway between the same trusses gives me access to the dormer windows.

The one thing that didn't turn out as expected was the stairs to the 2nd floor. Since the barn is only 24' wide they couldn't start in the corner and run straight up without getting in the way of the doorway. Builder made the steps turn after going 1/3 of the way. I didn't want to cut the floor joists (which were part of the rafter system). I can't carry anything too big up the steps but I do have doors on the 2nd floor. You can see the steps in the upper right corner of the door opening in this picture...

Everyone here said "build it bigger than you think you'll need". They were right. I'm really happy with it but I should have made it a little bigger. It's filling up quickly. But it has been really useful. It's on a piece of acreage we bought 2 years ago but are not moving to for another 2 years. After I move there I'll put in some windows on the 1st floor. Since we're not there I didn't want to anyone looking in even though it is almost 1,000' from the street.

I'll try to take some pictures this weekend. Let me know if there are any specific features you want to see.

 

[Jimmyp5]

OK my two cents., you really may have a drip edge problem... the water is not dripping directly down and wicking under the edges and it would look like it was blown in. So how do you fix this? I would try a simple fix first, get some of the plastic v-grooved self sticking door insulation tape from the local home improvement store. Install it into the louvers v side up so that when the water wicks up it hits the apex of the v side and then returns and drops off. A 5 buck solution...if it is a wicking problem...

Love the barn!!

 

[Soundguy]

If it already has screen inside it.. the wicking problem does sound plausable.. as the screen should do a much better job at deflection..

soundguy

 

[Podunkadunk]

RobA,
Thanks for the writeup on the specs. Your style and design would go perfectly with my house and I want them to match, or at least have a likeness, since they'll be within 50-60 yards of one another. I'm still a few months out before the construction will begin. It will be a normal pole barn except for making a bonus room up stairs. Then my father and I will be walling it in, first the bonus room and eventually the sides as $ permits. Thanks for taking the time to post, it really is a beautiful barn.

Podunk

 

[citytransplant]

Whenever a windblown rain comes through I get water coming in through the cupola vents.

Beautiful barn!

I can't believe that just yesterday my gal asked me to go up on our (her) barn roof this weekend to address this same issue ... well ... sort of. I say sort of because she is quite sure our leak is being caused by rainwater running down the weathervane rod, not through the louvers (see linked drawing of cupola - area of top arrow). I would think that with properly angled louvers and screen (our cupola is built by Amish also - nice quality), you would need a sideways driving rain coming down for a considerable period of time to cause any significant leaking.

I will go up tomorrow, weather permitting, see what we have going on, and report back. The only fix (if indeed the rod is the culprit) that I have come up with would be a simple rubber washer with outer diameter wider than the hole in the cupola that the rod sits in. The inner diameter of the washer would be same diameter as rod and would be slipped on the rod and sit just above the hole, causing water to drip down rod, around washer, and onto "roof" of cupola rather than inside the hole and, in our case, onto a light fixture.

Please let us know what your cupola maker tells you. If you haven't already spoken to him, please share my hypothesis with him. I would be interested in his reaction.

http://www.ferroweathervanes.com/ca..._and_Brackets/images/no_additional_mounts.gif

 

[citytransplant]

you would need a sideways driving rain coming down for a considerable period of time to cause any significant leaking

I pointed out this thread to my gal and she noted that water does leak through the louvers of our cupola during driving rainstorms. I didn't realize that.

 

[citytransplant]

Well my fix was easier then I thought it would be. I assumed that the rod (that turns in the wind) passed through the hole in the cupola. Upon closer inspection, I realized the rod (which is welded to the horse in drawing above) actually slips into a long pipe/tube just a few inches below the horse. The pipe/tube extends down through the hole in the cupola and rests on a board. Since the hole in the cupola was slightly larger than the pipe/tube, water dripped down into barn, onto the board, and as luck would have it, onto a light fixture. Since the pipe/tube is fixed (unlike the rod that is inserted into the pipe) a bead of silicone was all that was necessary to prevent any more water from dripping down into the barn.

Now I need to see for myself how bad the rain leaks in through louvers when we get a sideways rainstorm.

Good luck RobA. I will be lurking to see how you resolve your issue.

 

[Soundguy]

Glad it was an easy fix!

soundguy

 

[Kendrick]

Just a thought, depending on how utilitarian you are could you not just put a plate 2" or so away from the louvers on the outisde to block driving rain yet still let convection work throught the louvers?

you might be able to get away with clear plexi, a piece of water resistant metal may also work.

 

[Soundguy]

An 'overhang from the cupola roof may also serve the same purpose to deflect water.. but allow air flow.

in any event I think he found the leak from the top anyway..

etc.

soundguy