A field failure record is worth exactly as much as its fields. Five of them make a record that can be compared with the next one; a description and a photograph make an anecdote.

How to record a window or facade failure on site

rev B

issue 04rev Bdrawn by The Transom Set (a named set, not a person)

A four-stage flow showing the fields of a field failure record — The date is the day it was seen, not the day it was written. Not to scale.

A table of the four photographs a field failure record should contain — One photograph proves a window was wet. Four prove something.

A checklist of six items in a field failure record — Writing a diagnosis into the record destroys the record.

The five fields

Position means a location somebody else can find without asking, which means the unit reference and the elevation, not the room name. Date means the day of the observation, not the day of the report. Section means the part of the assembly: edge of glass, frame face, break line, gasket, weep. Reading means the measurement taken. Photograph means at least four, taken from a stated distance.

Write the unit reference and the elevation, so the position can be found without asking.
Record the date of the observation, not the date the report was written.
Name the part of the assembly: edge of glass, frame face, break line, gasket, or weep.
Take the reading, and take four photographs including one with a scale in the frame.

What the photographs have to show

A photograph of a wet window proves that a window was wet. Four photographs taken to a pattern prove where the water was, how far it extended, what the detail looks like around it and what size the feature is. The pattern is what makes the record comparable.

Photograph	Shows	Why it is needed
the whole unit	position and extent	locates everything else
the detail	the joint or the break	identifies the failure mode
with a scale	the size of the feature	makes it measurable later
the surrounding wall	the context	rules out another source

A field record is not the same as a diagnosis. The record says what was seen, where and when. The diagnosis says why, and it usually needs the section cut open or the unit removed. Writing the diagnosis into the record destroys the record.

Where this sheet stops

This page covers the record. The failure modes themselves are owned by the assembly pages, and the forensic teardown that follows a record by the revision on debond.

Documents this sheet is drawn from

1Window Leak Investigation Case Study (Hightower Labs)supports the investigation method used when a window leak is traced on site
2ASTM E2112-23 Standard Practice for Installation of Exterior Windows, Doors and Skylights (full text PDF)supports the installation practice that the section field is classified against
3Field Testing of Windows and Doors - Technical Document TD-014 (Graham Architectural Products)supports the field testing procedure used to confirm a suspected failure

Each line points at one specific document, with its own title as the link text. No line is a home page and no line is a search result.

Sign the sheet and stop Sign the sheet and stop once the five fields are filled. A record without a date is not a record.

drawn by checked against issue date rev