Sealant joints and flashing details are the smallest line on a building envelope budget and the first thing to fail. FAIME cuts out failed joints, rebuilds them to the correct profile, and details the transitions that keep water moving back out of the wall.
Failed beads cut out to sound substrate, backer rod reset, joints rebuilt to profile.
Window & Door Perimeters
The highest-failure joint on most buildings — resealed at head, jamb and sill.
Flashing & Transitions
Head and sill flashings, terminations, and the joints where two cladding types meet.
Sealant Condition Survey
Elevation-by-elevation assessment with photos, so repairs can be staged by priority.
What We Provide
The Cheapest Repair On The Building.
FAIME Construction provides caulking, joint sealant and flashing work across the GTA — perimeter sealing at windows and doors, control and expansion joint renewal, sealant condition surveys, and flashing and transition detailing. Self-performed by our own crews for homeowners, property managers and general contractors in Toronto, Vaughan, Mississauga and the surrounding region.15+ years of trade experience · WSIB Active · $2M CGL · 2-year workmanship warranty · Free site visits
A sealant joint is a moving joint. It has to stretch in January and compress in July, and it can only do that if it was cut out properly, backed correctly, and tooled to the right profile. Most of the failures we are called to repair were installed over the top of the last ones.
Sealants & Caulking
Full joint replacement rather than a cosmetic bead over the old one. Old sealant is removed to sound substrate, joint faces are cleaned, backer rod sets the depth, and the bead is tooled to compress against both faces.
Window & door perimeter sealing
Control & expansion joint renewal
Cladding and panel joints
Backer rod sizing & installation
Substrate priming where required
Interior wet-area sealant renewal
Sealant condition surveys with photo records
Flashing & Transition Details
Flashing is the primary water defence and sealant is the backup — when the two are reversed, the wall leaks. We detail the interruptions in the envelope so water is directed back out rather than held in.
Window head & sill flashing details
Terminations at grade and at openings
Transitions between cladding types
Penetration detailing & sealing
Reveal and trim edge detailing
Integration with EIFS and stucco assemblies
Coordination with our exterior crews on full elevations
Why It's Done This Way
Joints Move. Build For That.
Nearly every failed sealant joint we open up failed for one of four reasons: it was applied over old sealant, it had no backer rod, the substrate was never cleaned or primed, or the wrong product was used for the movement the joint actually sees. None of those are visible on the day the work is finished.
01
Full Cut-Out, Not Overlay
The old bead comes out completely. A new sealant applied over an old one bonds to the old sealant, inherits its remaining adhesion, and fails on the same schedule. This is the most common shortcut in the trade and the one we do not take.
02
Correct Joint Profile
Backer rod sets depth and prevents three-sided adhesion, so the bead can stretch and compress. Roughly half as deep as it is wide is the target. A joint packed solid with sealant cannot move and tears itself apart in the first hard freeze-thaw cycle.
03
Substrate Preparation
Joint faces are cleaned back to sound material and primed where the substrate calls for it. Sealant bonded to dust, chalk, or a previous coating is bonded to nothing. Preparation is most of the labour on a sealant job and all of its service life.
04
Diagnosis Before Sealant
If a leak only appears in wind-driven rain from one direction, the problem is usually flashing or a termination, not the bead. Sealing over a flashing defect hides it for a season. We identify which of the two is actually failing before quoting the repair.
05
Staged by Priority
A condition survey lets a building owner fix the elevations that are actually failing this year and budget the rest. South and west elevations usually need attention years before the sheltered faces of the same building.
06
Self-Performed by Our Crews
Sealant and flashing work is executed by FAIME crews, not brokered to a sub-tier. The same crew works alongside our EIFS, stucco and painting crews, which matters when a joint has to be detailed into a finish system.
Where We Work
Sealant & Flashing Across the GTA
Toronto
All neighbourhoods
Mississauga
Full coverage
Brampton
All areas
Vaughan
Woodbridge, Maple
Markham
All subdivisions
Richmond Hill
Full coverage
Kitchener / Guelph
Waterloo Region
Muskoka
Seasonal scheduling
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Most exterior sealant joints in the GTA last somewhere between 7 and 15 years, and the spread is that wide because of exposure, not product. South and west elevations take the most UV and the widest daily temperature swing, so they fail years before a sheltered north wall on the same building. The joint tells you before it leaks: chalking on the surface, loss of elasticity when you press it, hairline splits down the middle, or the bead pulling cleanly away from one side. Adhesive failure on one face is the most common pattern we see, and it usually means the original joint was installed without primer or over a dirty substrate.
No, and this is the single most common reason a re-caulk fails within two years. A new bead applied over an old one bonds to the old sealant, not to the substrate, so it inherits whatever adhesion the old joint had left. Done properly, the old sealant is cut out completely, the joint faces are cleaned back to sound substrate, backer rod is set to the correct depth, primer is applied where the substrate calls for it, and the new bead is tooled to compress it against both faces. Cutting corners here is invisible on day one and obvious in the second winter.
More sealant is worse. A sealant joint has to stretch and compress as the building moves, and it can only do that if it is bonded to two faces, not three. Backer rod sets the depth, prevents the sealant from bonding to the back of the joint, and gives the bead the correct hourglass profile - roughly half as deep as it is wide. A joint packed solid with sealant is bonded on three sides, cannot move, and tears itself apart at the first real freeze-thaw cycle. This is the detail that separates a sealant job from a caulking job.
Flashing is the sheet material that directs water back out of a wall assembly at every interruption - window and door heads, sills, roof-to-wall transitions, parapets, and anywhere one cladding type meets another. Sealant is a secondary defence; flashing is the primary one. The symptoms of failed or missing flashing show up inside, not outside: staining below a window head, damp drywall at a corner after wind-driven rain, or paint blistering in a band across a wall. If the leak only appears in driving rain from one direction, that points to a flashing or termination problem rather than a simple failed bead, and re-caulking it will not fix it.
Find It Before It Gets Inside.
Send us photos of the joint or the staining and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a sealant repair or a flashing problem — with a written scope and a firm price before anything starts.
