Moisture management systems and methods for building openings

Abstract

Moisture management systems and methods are provided for managing moisture in a vicinity of an opening in a building wall. Such systems comprise a sill pan mountable in the building wall atop a horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening. The sill pan may include: a base section having an upper surface which slopes downwardly and outwardly from a location interior to a lower flange portion of a window frame to an interstitial space between a sheathing layer of the building wall and an external building wall layer for directing moisture received thereon toward the interstitial space; and a plurality of transversely spaced-apart window-support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the base section and oriented substantially horizontally for receiving a lower portion of the window frame. Such systems also comprise a lower vent mountable in the building wall outwardly of the sill pan. The lower vent may include: a vent component which defines a plurality of apertures that provide fluid communication between an exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space; and a hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from a location above the apertures in the vent component and interior to the exterior building wall layer to a location external to the building wall.

1 . An apparatus for managing moisture in a vicinity of an opening in a building wall, the apparatus comprising:
 a sill pan mountable in the building wall atop a horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening, the sill pan comprising a base section having an upper surface which slopes downwardly and outwardly from interior to a sheathing layer of the building wall to an interstitial space between the sheathing layer and an external building wall layer for directing moisture received thereon toward the interstitial space;   a lower vent mountable in the building wall in a vicinity of a lower perimeter of the window opening, the lower vent comprising: a vent component which defines a plurality of lower vent apertures that provide fluid communication between an exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space; and a hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from above the lower vent apertures and from interior to the exterior building wall layer to the exterior of the building wall.   
   
   
       2 . An apparatus according to  claim 1  wherein the sill pan comprises a plurality of transversely spaced-apart window-support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the base section and oriented substantially horizontally for receiving a lower portion of a window frame. 
   
   
       3 . An apparatus according to  claim 2  wherein the sill pan comprises an exterior flange extending downwardly from the base section and abutting against an exterior surface of the sheathing layer and a plurality of transversely spaced-apart spacers having exterior surfaces that are located exterior to an exterior surface of the exterior flange and wherein at least a portion of the lower flange portion of the window frame abuts against the exterior surfaces of the spacers. 
   
   
       4 . An apparatus according to  claim 3  wherein the sill pan comprises a plurality of transversely spaced-apart legs which extend downwardly from the base section to abut against an upper surface of the horizontally-extending lower frame member so that portions of the base section located between the transversely spaced-apart legs are vertically spaced-apart from the upper surface of the horizontally-extending lower frame member. 
   
   
       5 . An apparatus according to  claim 4  wherein the sill pan comprises a pair of corner components, each corner component formed from a monolithic piece of material and each corner component comprising: a corner base section mountable atop the horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening to provide at least a portion of the base section; one or more corner window-support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the corner base section to provide one or more of the window-support members; a corner exterior flange extending downwardly from the corner base section and abutting against the exterior surface of the sheathing layer to provide at least a portion of the exterior flange; one or more corner spacers having exterior surfaces that are located exterior to an exterior surface of the corner exterior flange to provide one or more of the spacers; and one or more corner legs which extend downwardly from the corner base section to provide one or more of the legs. 
   
   
       6 . An apparatus according to  claim 5  wherein each corner component comprises: a side flange which extends upwardly from the corner base section to abut against a corresponding side of a corresponding vertically-extending frame member of the opening; and an upwardly-extending exterior flange which extends upwardly and transversely away from the corner base section to abut against one of: the exterior surface of the sheathing layer; and a corresponding exterior surface of the corresponding vertically-extending frame member. 
   
   
       7 . An apparatus according to  claim 6  wherein, for each corner component, the side flange comprises a portion which extends below the corner base section to abut against the upper surface of the horizontally-extending lower frame member. 
   
   
       8 . An apparatus according to  claim 5  wherein the sill pan comprises a connector component for connecting to both of the corner components, the connector component comprising a connector base section mountable atop the horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening to provide at least a portion of the base section. 
   
   
       9 . An apparatus according to  claim 8  wherein the connector component comprises one or more connector window-support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the connector base section to provide one or more of the window-support members. 
   
   
       10 . An apparatus according to  claim 8  wherein the connector component comprises: a connector exterior flange that extends downwardly from the connector base section and abuts against the exterior surface of the sheathing layer; one or more connector spacers having exterior surfaces that are located exterior to an exterior surface of the connector exterior flange to provide one or more of the spacers; and one or more connector legs which extend downwardly from the corner base section to provide one or more of the legs. 
   
   
       11 . An apparatus according to  claim 8  wherein the connector component comprises a pair of wings that extend from the connector base section in transversely opposing directions and each corner component comprises one or more notches for receiving a corresponding one of the wings to form a resilient snap-together coupling between the corresponding one of the wings of the connector component and the one or more notches of each corner component. 
   
   
       12 . An apparatus according to  claim 11  wherein each of the one or more notches of each corner component is located in a corresponding one of the corner window-support members. 
   
   
       13 . An apparatus according to  claim 1  wherein the hood comprises: an upper hood portion that extends outwardly and downwardly from above the lower vent apertures and from a vertically and transversely-extending lower window flange on the lower portion of the window frame located interior to the exterior building wall layer; and an exterior hood portion that extends outwardly and downwardly from an outermost extent of the upper hood portion to the exterior of the building wall and wherein the exterior hood portion extends more sharply downwardly than the upper hood portion. 
   
   
       14 . An apparatus according to  claim 13  wherein the exterior hood portion comprises a drip flange at its outermost and lowermost end, the drip flange also extending downwardly and outwardly and wherein the drip flange extends downwardly more sharply than the upper hood portion and less sharply than a remainder of the exterior hood portion and wherein the lowermost edge of the drip flange is located below the lower vent apertures. 
   
   
       15 . An apparatus according to  claim 13  wherein the vent component and the hood are integrally formed from a single monolithic piece of material. 
   
   
       16 . An apparatus according to  claim 1  comprising an upper vent mountable in the building wall in a vicinity of an upper perimeter of the opening, the upper vent comprising an upper vent component which defines a plurality of upper vent apertures that provide fluid communication between the exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space located above the window; and an upper vent hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from interior to the exterior building wall layer to the exterior of the building wall. 
   
   
       17 . An apparatus according to  claim 16  wherein the upper vent hood is located below the upper vent apertures. 
   
   
       18 . An apparatus according to  claim 6  wherein the sill pan also comprises one or more central components, each central component comprising: a central base section mountable atop the horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening to provide at least a portion of the base section; and one or more central window-support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the central base section to provide one or more of the window-support members. 
   
   
       19 . An apparatus according to  claim 18  wherein each central component comprises: a central exterior flange extending downwardly from the central base section and abutting against the exterior surface of the sheathing layer to provide at least a portion of the exterior flange; one or more central spacers having exterior surfaces that are located exterior to an exterior surface of the central exterior flange to provide one or more of the spacers; and one or more central legs which extend downwardly from the central base section to provide one or more of the legs. 
   
   
       20 . An apparatus according to  claim 18  wherein the sill pan comprises a connector component for connecting one of the corner components to one of the central components, the connector component comprising a connector base section mountable atop the horizontally-extending lower frame member of the opening to provide at least a portion of the base section. 
   
   
       21 . An apparatus according to  claim 20  wherein the connector component comprises A pair of wings that extend from the connector base section in transversely opposing directions, wherein the one of the corner components comprises one or more notches in one or more of their corresponding corner window-support members for receiving a corresponding one of the wings and forming a resilient snap-together coupling therebetween and wherein the one of the central components comprises one or more notches in one or more of their corresponding central window-support members for receiving a corresponding one of the wings and forming a resilient snap-together coupling therebetween. 
   
   
       22 . An apparatus for managing moisture in a vicinity of a window opening in a building wall, the apparatus comprising:
 a pair of corner components, each corner component comprising: a corner base section mountable atop a horizontally-extending lower frame member of the window opening and having an upper surface which slopes downwardly and outwardly from interior of a sheathing layer of the building wall to an interstitial space between the sheathing layer and an external building wall layer for directing moisture received thereon toward the interstitial space; a plurality of transversely spaced-apart corner window support members having upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the corner base section and oriented substantially horizontally for receiving a lower portion of a window frame; a corner exterior flange extending downwardly from the corner base section and abutting against an exterior surface of sheathing layer; and a plurality of transversely spaced-apart corner spacers having exterior surfaces that are located exterior to an exterior surface of the corner exterior flange and wherein at least a portion of the window frame abuts against the exterior surfaces of the corner spacers; and   a connector component for connecting to both of the corner components, the connector component comprising a connector base section and a pair of wings that extend from the connector base section in transversely opposing directions to form snap-together couplings between a corresponding one of the wings and one or more notches on each of the corner components.   
   
   
       23 . An apparatus according to  claim 22  comprising a lower vent mountable in the building wall in a vicinity of a lower perimeter of the window opening, the lower vent comprising: a vent component which defines a plurality of lower vent apertures that provide fluid communication between an exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space; and a hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from above the lower vent apertures and from interior to the exterior building wall layer to the exterior of the building wall. 
   
   
       24 . A method for managing moisture in a vicinity of a window opening of a building wall, the method comprising:
 creating an interstitial space between a sheathing layer of the building wall and an external building wall layer;   mounting a sill pan in the building wall atop a horizontally-extending lower frame member of the window opening, the sill pan comprising: a base section having an upper surface which slopes downwardly and outwardly from a location interior to the sheathing layer to the interstitial space for directing moisture received thereon toward the interstitial space; and a plurality of transversely spaced-apart window-support members having substantially horizontally oriented upper surfaces located above the upper surface of the base section;   installing a window in the window opening such that at least part of lower portion of the window frame is positioned atop the upper surfaces of the window-support members;   mounting a lower vent in the building wall in a vicinity of a lower perimeter of the window opening, the lower vent comprising: a vent component which defines a plurality of lower vent apertures that provide fluid communication between an exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space; and a hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from above the lower vent apertures and from interior to the exterior building wall layer to the exterior of the building wall; and   applying the external building wall layer to the building wall, the external building wall layer overlapping a lower portion of the vent component below the lower vent apertures.   
   
   
       25 . A method according to  claim 24  comprising mounting an upper vent in the building wall in a vicinity of an upper perimeter of the window opening, the upper vent comprising an upper vent component which defines a plurality of upper vent apertures that provide fluid communication between the exterior of the building wall and the interstitial space located above the window; and an upper vent hood shaped to extend downwardly and outwardly from interior to the exterior building wall layer to the exterior of the building wall.