Condensation spot in newly insulated conservatory

[SophiaBC]

Good morning,

We had our conservatory insulated by a professional and well recommended company last week. Essentially they place a reflective film on the glass, and then cover with foil insulation, board over and plaster. We waited for this to dry out and then had it decorated.

The problem we are having - which we had never noticed prior to the work - is that there is a ‘damp’ patch forming every night in a circular pattern around the existing supporting internal pole - not sure if this is decorative or actually supportive. It seems to dry out in the day and then reappear overnight. This started happening prior to the decoration and seems unaffected by rain, so I don’t think it’s a leak.

Since the plaster dried we have had a dehumidifier going and are starting to use a small heater to heat at various times of the day. The dehumidifier alone doesn’t seem to have solved.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Lower]

There is probably either insulation missing directly around the supporting pole or the supporting pole is creating a cold bridge which in turn is causing condensation to form on the cold spot.

How to fix it, i don't know. I'd suggest you get the firm back that did the work.

 

[SophiaBC]

Thank you so much for coming back to me. It’s odd that this is happening only at the top of the vertical pole, and not at either end of the horizontal one.

Absolutely, will be contacting the company for them to come back and have a look.

 

[John D v2.0]

The pole is metal and going straight through the insulation, so it's cold. That means it's getting condensation which is also on the plaster.
You need to cut out a small area of plaster and insulate the pole as far down as possible

 

[crank39]

It's not all metal John but rather white plastic conduit with a 10mm threaded rod inside, however i do agree that it' still likely to be a cold bridge, the bracket that the vertical tie bar is bolted to is itself screwed to the aluminium ridge, a big chunk of ali itself and almost certainly is cold, putting a bit of heat on inside the conservatory will cause water droplets to form on this.......or any other cold spot, the thing I can't understand is why is it only doing this now and now as it was before the conversion

 

[catlad]

Well originally it was all the same temperature, now one end of the pole is a lot hotter/colder than the other.
I suggest putting some pipe lagging on the pole.

 

[John D v2.0]

Yes as above is the relative difference in insulation that's your problem. It also might have better vapour barriers whereas before it might have been well ventilated. But all the condensation is focused on one point.
If you do insulate the pole make sure the plasterboard isn't a cold bridge at the top. I'd do that by cutting the plasterboard back a little before pushing the insulation fully up.

 

[crank39]

@Sophia, do you have the name or make of the roof conversion? The main players in this type of work are guardian and equinox but both are full replacement systems, from seeing you still have the existing tie bar it tells me your roof was an ultraframe roof, I'm interested to hear how your existing conservatory roof was converted into a solid type roof, do you have any photos taken while work was in progress?

 

[SophiaBC]

Many thanks for all of your input.

On closer inspection the pole isn’t metal, but I suspect it is as you say @crank39 - plastic on the outside with a rod inside.

We used a company called Inceil - and are overall very pleased with the work. It is a solution which fits onto the existing conservatory roof effectively insulating it from the inside. We had a south facing conservatory which was an ice box in the winter and a sauna in the summer and the change in temperature is amazing. I am runnning an oil heater with the thermostat set to 20 degrees and it is barely coming on. I am also running a dehumidifier on a low/eco mode which has stopped all condensation.

This was one of the lowest cost solutions we came across. We are planning on extending in 3-5 years time so are only concerned with the solution providing us an extra room for that time period. We hosted Christmas and had 8 of us eating in there yesterday and it feels just like we’ve had an extension and gained a room.

In relation to the issue we were having I contacted Inceil who said that we should keep and eye on it but they thought it would settle, and so far it hasn’t returned. The next couple of days are going to be particularly cold so it will be interesting to see what happens. The work is covered by a 5 year gurantee so I am fairly comfortable.

 

[SophiaBC]

Ps Sorry no before photos but their website shows you how its all done - https://www.inceil.co.uk/how-conservatory-ceiling-insulation-works/