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The Practice Management Knowledge Community (PMKC) identifies and develops information on the business of architecture for use by the profession to maintain and improve the quality of the professional and business environment.  The PMKC initiates programs, provides content and serves as a resource to other knowledge communities, and acts as experts on AIA Institute programs and policies that pertain to a wide variety of business practices and trends.

    

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Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

  • 1.  Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-25-2021 05:34 PM

    With the record rain storm in the Bay Area last night, our bank of skylights started leaking a steady stream (long history of about the previous homeowner installing a custom fabricated 20-foot assembly of skylights/window - quite beautiful and quite leak-prone).  Around 2 AM, we devised a solution to get us through the night: Silly Putty!

    Pressed into place, it plugged the leaks until morning.  Has anyone else had success with Silly Putty?  Do you think we can use it for a long-term solution?

    Using Silly Putty as a temporary sealant


    ------------------------------
    Michael Strogoff, FAIA
    Chair Emeritus, PMKC Advisory Group
    President, Strogoff Consulting
    Mill Valley, CA 94941
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  • 2.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-26-2021 05:24 PM
    Can't wait until we can attend a Crayola Silly Putty AIA/CES Lunch and Learn!

    I think we would put this in MasterFormat classification 07 01 10.81 (Temporary) Waterproofing Replacement

    ------------------------------
    Philip Kabza AIA
    Principal
    SpecGuy Specifications Consultants
    Mount Dora FL
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-26-2021 05:38 PM
    Yes! It will last forever.  Many years ago when we, as college kids, made the car trip from Houston to NYC to interview for apprenticeships, the radiator on that old clunker sprang a leak in the backwoods country. A farmer got us some water and one of the guys plugged the hole with bubblegum - it not only got us to NYC and back, but held for years afterward! Silly Putty is as good as gum!

    ------------------------------
    M. Newman AIA
    The Newman Marchive Partnership, Inc.
    Shreveport LA
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  • 4.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-26-2021 06:28 PM

    I was under the impression that Silly Putty has long since been banned in California (and there's a strong black market for it).

     

    Steven T. Graves, A.I.A.

    Burgdahl & Graves Architects

    2550 Belle Chasse Highway

    Suite 130

    Gretna, LA 70053

     

    Ph: (504) 366-4433

    Fax: (504) 366-0102

    sgraves@burgdahlgraves.com">sgraves@burgdahlgraves.com

     






  • 5.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-27-2021 06:48 PM
    It is the duct tape of sealants.  It works on anything anywhere.





  • 6.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-27-2021 08:21 PM
    WRONG





  • 7.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-28-2021 02:12 PM
    It is great to see AIA and a spot of 'silly' humor!  The two do not meet very often.

    Michael Katzin, AIA | NCARB |  Board MemberCity of Johns Creek Planning Commission
    Michael Katzin Project Services, LLC | Johns Creek, GA





  • 8.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-28-2021 08:22 PM
    OK, Eugene - what is wrong?  I think it's a great short term fix - of course there's always duct tape or FlexSeal...

    ------------------------------
    Edmond Gauvreau, FAIA
    Washington, DC
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-26-2021 06:33 PM
    I had curtainwall testers bring a commercial-market box of generic silly putty to a field test. It, of course, had some other name, but apparently it's the only product that sticks to all of our aluminum finishes.

    ------------------------------
    Kent Dombach AIA
    Director of Specifications
    USA Architects
    Philadelphia PA
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-27-2021 03:16 PM
    Michael et al.,

    One of my house's 1949-vintage wood bypass casement windows-with steel pins that slide in tracks molded into a Bakelite sill-started to leak at these tracks some ten years ago.
    My temporary solution was to stuff some putty around the pins.  The local Ace hardware store offered a blue, non-hardening, slightly sticky putty called Fun-Tac.

    It's still in place.  Whenever the window needs opening I just pop out the little wads of putty, put them aside, and replace them before the next heavy rain.

    --
    Robert L Miller FAIA
    4158 Linnean Ave NW
    Washington DC  20008
    rlmadc1@gmail.com          
     DC  202 966 4919  
    cell  202 631 7124





  • 11.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-28-2021 03:09 PM
    This topic is near and dear to my heart. I can personally attest to the waterproofing wonders of Silly Putty. As a kid, I had 'tubes' in my ears to stop my earaches - but needed to wear ear plugs for swimming, which I did competitively. No wax or plastic plug worked well enough. Enter Silly putty. For several years, I was the weird kid who put Silly Putty in his ears! Luckily my skill in swimming outweighed any childish teasing that might have occurred, and I eventually outgrew the need for ear tubes and therefore the Silly Putty. I'm glad to hear my childhood and architectural worlds can come back together via Silly Putty...

    ------------------------------
    Casey Hughes AIA
    Napa CA
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 10-28-2021 04:20 PM

    If I recall correctly, wasn't Silly Putty one our earliest introductions to the concept of image transfer?  Of course, my memory might be clouded by my early and often exposure as an young intern tasked to running a blueprint machine.

    Steven T. Graves, A.I.A.

    Burgdahl & Graves Architects

    2550 Belle Chasse Highway

    Suite 130

    Gretna, LA 70053

     

    Ph: (504) 366-4433

    Fax: (504) 366-0102

    sgraves@burgdahlgraves.com">sgraves@burgdahlgraves.com

     






  • 13.  RE: Skylight Leak Fixed with Silly Putty

    Posted 11-01-2021 12:25 AM
    Your memory is intact, Steven. Silly Putty was marketed in the 1960s by demonstrating it pressed flat on to the Sunday color comic pages where it "magically" transferred the color comic image to the putty. I think you could then transfer the image to your skin like a tattoo or on to a piece of paper!

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    Karen Courtney AIA
    Fortville IN
    ------------------------------