Conservatory drainage issue

[0Floz0]

Hi,

Our conservatory is leaking and its proving a challenge to figure out where its coming from. Where the external wall meets the conservatory there is an aluminum drainage channel. It seems to have a join there which I believe is where the leak is happening so I want to fix this first. I'm not sure what the drainage channel is called to google it. But I'll add a picture tomorrow.

Whats the best way of fixing the join to make it leak proof if its two pieces of aluminium connecting together? The previous owners seem to have tried something as there is a black patch across the join that looks like some sort of sealant.

Appreciate you may need a picture to confirm best fix but just wondering how to approach it.

Thanks

 

[0Floz0]

Photos attached. I can see a join line but no idea what the black stuff is or best way of cleaning it off so I can redo the joint.

 

[datarebal]

Looks like bitumen .. it's Likley a previous repair .

 

[0Floz0]

Looks like bitumen .. it's Likley a previous repair .

Yeah if I had to guess that’s what I was thinking. Just looks like they’ve sloshed it on. Any tips on what to do to fix it?

 

[foxhole]

White spirit will remove bitumen but a messy job.

 

[0Floz0]

White spirit will remove bitumen but a messy job.

Thanks. Do you think acetone would be more or less effective as I’ve got some of that too.

Clearly the repair hasn’t lasted well. Any tips on what the best proper fix would be. Guessing I need to form a better join between the two pieces of metal.

 

[morg]

Perhaps take some more photos of the overall structure.

Noticed you have a gutter bracket, but the guttering itself has been removed

 

[0Floz0]

Perhaps take some more photos of the overall structure.

Noticed you have a gutter bracket, but the guttering itself has been removed

Yeah there was a gutter there but I removed it to get better access to the drainage channel underneath. It also had some ridiculously oversized drip trays that were way too big. Check out the bodgework below. I’ve got new fascia’s being delivered on Monday to tidy up the cow boys work (it was like this when I purchased it).

I’m guessing I’ve got to clean the drainage channel out and reseal the joint. I’m just unsure how to seal what I assume is an aluminium joint.

I’ll be cleaning the gutters and conservatory whilst I do this. Appreciate it’s a mess!

 

[0Floz0]

I’ve used a scraper to get all the old stuff off and then I’ve used some rubber sealant on it. Hopefully it holds this time!

 

[crank39]

Thats an ultraframe make of roof, the aluminium section is called a box gutter, it screws/bolts onto the main house wall ald it gives structural support for the conservatory rafters. Where abouts does it leak inside the conservatory?

 

[datarebal]

At joins usually

 

[0Floz0]

Thats an ultraframe make of roof, the aluminium section is called a box gutter, it screws/bolts onto the main house wall ald it gives structural support for the conservatory rafters. Where abouts does it leak inside the conservatory?

yeah its leaking at the join between the two pieces of aluminium section.

 

[crank39]

How do you know, have you removed the internal box gutter cladding to reveal the box box gutter and it's foiled foam insulation?

 

[0Floz0]

How do you know, have you removed the internal box gutter cladding to reveal the box box gutter and it's foiled foam insulation?

In fairness I haven’t. But the join is right above where the leak is internally and when we’ve stripped it back it was wet underneath the bitumen they used to seal the join (weirdly it’s welded on one side and not the other, guessing that might be to allow expansion?).

Struggling to get the internal cladding off as it’s all glued down so hoping it dries out once the fix I’ve done has stopped everything else. If it doesn’t I guess I’ve got no choice.

What would you recommend?

 

[crank39]

I would recommend unclipping the internal cloaking and look for dirty water marks, just because it's leaking in the middle inside doesn't mean it's getting in in the middle, from my experience from tracing roof leaks it's 99.9% of the time the box gutter adaptors at each end, thses are the 90° corners that convert from the wide aluminium gutter to the smaller conservatory gutter, the joint between the 2 is where it fails and it allows water in and it runs inside but above the cloaking, removing the cloaking should allow you to see dirty water marks originating from one end