Importance of Drip Keys on your Home

At Kavanagh Masonry, we have repaired our fair share of damaged brickwork on homes throughout Ottawa. Damaged or spalling brick is typically found in the same common locations on most homes and is almost always caused by water penetration.

In our cold climate, bricks that are saturated with water are exposed to freeze thaw cyles which will cause the water inside the brickwork to expand and contract. These changes in pressure can cause bricks to spall and crack apart. To avoid masonry damage, homeowners need to keep an eye on the areas of their home where water saturation may occur.

The most common saturation zones are:

- Steps and adjacent paving work.

- Chimneys and Parapets

- Brick quoins

-Window sills and Door sills (directly below)

-Areas located where there is a faulty roofing downspout.

Many of these saturation zones can be protected from most water penetration with the use of a simple drip key edged onto all sills and copings.

Window sills, Door sills, and coping stones are installed with an adequate overhang to protect the masonry below from the rain and snow. They are always sloping down to ensure water will weep readily away from the house. However, without a drip key edged into the bottom of their overhang, water will simply curl around the overhang through capillary action and weep down the masonry work below.

That explains why most brick repairs are located directly under window sills, door sills and chimneys on older homes that are missing this critical drip edge.

The Drip Key Explained

A drip key is a long groove formed or cut into the underside of the overhanging masonry (sill or coping). When there is precipitation, water collects in this continuous groove and then falls to the ground before it has any chance to make contact with the masonry wall. It is so simple yet incredibly effective. Unfortunately is absent on many homes in Ottawa.

The Kavanagh Masonry Difference

Any time we perform a brick repair project under windows or doors, we ensure to always cut a small drip key into the window sills or coping used to protect the masonry work from any chance of being exposed again to water penetration.

All of our custom window sills and door sills come precasted with a drip key on their underside to keep water away from the exterior masonry of your home.

All of our chimnery repairs and chimney rebuilds are equipped with a steel cap that has a one inch drip edge to wick water away from the new masonry.

For more information on our Masonry Services, please visit our Services page or if you are ready to begin the quoting process, reach out on the Request a Quote page.