Conservatory roof leak

[GusGF]

Yes it's one of those again, I'm sure this forum get lots.

We've got a leak which I believe is coming from the glass joins in the roof i.e. one of the rafters. Water is leaking from the soffit which I believe is finding it's way from one or more of the rafters, I imagine one or more of the rafters is channeling the rainwater down to the soffit. I suspect this as several years ago there was a small leak from one of the rafters. Now I don't want to start tearing down the soffit and you can see in the first photo the water trace where the soffit ends. There is a join as the soffit is made up of 2 panels and water has leaked along this join in several places. The installer tried to say this leak was coming from the roof of the main house (bungalow) which the conservatory is built off of, suggesting a broken tile/loose ridge cap.
In an effort to see what's actually going on I want to remove the plastic from the underside of the rafters to try and identify any leaks. I've tentively tried to remove them from the underside of the rafter but they don't budge. So what I want to know is can and should I be able to remove these and how do I do it non destructively?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've tentively tried to remove them from the underside of the rafter but they don't budge. So what I want to know is can and should I be able to remove these and how do I do it non destructively?

They do look as if they just clip in place, but I'm no expert.

 

[GusGF]

Well that's what I was thinking but before I go and start to try prying them off I'd check

 

[crank39]

That's an ultraframe make of roof for ref. The leak is almost certainly coming from the joint between the aluminium box gutter adaptor, this is the adaptor/joint between the wide aluminium box gutter and the narrow plastic conservatory gutter, they always leak. The sealing needs to be done from outside preferably a dry day and you need to key the surfaces and paint with something like cromopol.

To remove the internal cloaking first unclip the fascia, the bit with the stripes in, start in the middle and grab the top and bottom edges and pull, this will pull the end away from the corner in question, this should then release the under cloaking from the underside of the box gutter, there should be some self adhesive foam insulation stuck to the gutter but on the cloaking you should see water marks and this will give you an indication of where the water is coming from, it could be coming in from the other end and running along the cloaking and dripping out at the end you've shown, the evidence will be on that cloaking

 

[foxhole]

Is box gutter clear of leaf litter , they cause leaks pretty quickly if blocked .

 

[GusGF]

That's an ultraframe make of roof for ref. The leak is almost certainly coming from the joint between the aluminium box gutter adaptor, this is the adaptor/joint between the wide aluminium box gutter and the narrow plastic conservatory gutter, they always leak. The sealing needs to be done from outside preferably a dry day and you need to key the surfaces and paint with something like cromopol.

To remove the internal cloaking first unclip the fascia, the bit with the stripes in, start in the middle and grab the top and bottom edges and pull, this will pull the end away from the corner in question, this should then release the under cloaking from the underside of the box gutter, there should be some self adhesive foam insulation stuck to the gutter but on the cloaking you should see water marks and this will give you an indication of where the water is coming from, it could be coming in from the other end and running along the cloaking and dripping out at the end you've shown, the evidence will be on that cloaking

View attachment 358837

Amazing info thank you so much and the image helps a ton. I'm going tackle this in the next few weeks when I've got some time off. TBH this has been a problem for several years now and I've been dreading tackling it but I can't put it off any longer. I will let you know how I get on and thanks again.

 

[GusGF]

Is box gutter clear of leaf litter , they cause leaks pretty quickly if blocked .

Yes I've checked this as this was something I thought was causing the problem.

 

[girishkukadia]

Hi, did you manage to fix the leak?

 

[GusGF]

Not yet. TBH I've been putting it off. I'm hoping to finally get down to it during the easter break. So fingers crossed, I'll let you know how I get on

 

[GusGF]

I will update further but today managed to make a start on it from a corner end. Initially it wouldn't budge at all and had to use a decorators wide scraper blade inserted into a small gap I got from the underside and with the help of a screwdriver then released the top bit and just nudged it open from there. There was no way I could have done this without tools. Can't do anymore with it till Monday when I can start taking it down and see what I can see. It was one of those jobs I was dreading and kept putting it off but I think it's going to be okay.

Many thanks again to @crank39 for the illustration which is exactly what we've got.

 

[crank39]

By striping the under cloaking off you'll be able to see where it's leaking in, it might surprise you and find it's coming in at the other end and running along the box gutter soffit

 

[GusGF]

By striping the under cloaking off you'll be able to see where it's leaking in, it might surprise you and find it's coming in at the other end and running along the box gutter soffit

Yes it will be interesting though might have to wait till the next heavy rainfall. We had a decorator in recently who said there most conservatories new & newish end up leaking at some point. Well I think I've got the installer's pdf I recently downloaded from Ultraframe but it's on a retired PC so fingers crossed I can get it as I can't seem to find a match for ours when I look now. It at least will tell me what should have been done when it was installed.

 

[GusGF]

Okay this is proving trickier that I had hoped. I've shared photos here. I've unclipped the fascia (lip brittle in places) and peeled it away but the undercloaking seems well and truly fixed. I have managed to bend it down, away from the gutter but I can see there are screws which have been fixed from the inside out, so can't unscrew them. The photos show two screws but they are all the way along.

From what I can see the cloaking is in 3 main bits: narrow striped section (left), jointing strip? (middle) and wide striped section (right). I tried to get a scraper in behind the jointing strip in the middle but there was little to no give but I could just about make out a screw head. I think those screws must be going through and holding the left striped section to the jointing strip and they must be attached to something I can't see because they ain't budging. I'm guessing and hoping the RHS is resting on the lip of the jointing strip?? Now I just need to try and get behind it to pull it away. That right hand section (wide striped bit) seems to be in two bits.

 

[crank39]

Not sure what they are but they shouldn't be there and don't know what purpose they're serving but in any case the strip you are curling down can stay in place, reason for removing the front was to be able to curl the under bit down which you've done and to see if theres any water sitting on top OR any water marks running along it, from the picture it looks like you have water dripping down the glass on the right but the water could be getting in at the other end and running downhill to the right, curl the trim down to see if theres any evidence of dirty water staining coming in from the left?

 

[crank39]

The soffit in yellow has nothing to do with the conservatory, if any water is coming in between the yellow lines which from your picture below it doesn't appear to be then its on the house side.

You have evidence here water dripping out of a gap between the cloaking and the window so water MUST be sitting on the top of the cloaking , look for water staining on the inside of the cloaking by curling it down, it could be originating from the other end and running to this end but you'll see the water staining.

If needs be cut away some of the foil backed insulation at each end to expose the aluminium gutter however the joint between the aluminium gutter and the pvc conservatory gutter will above the frame so technically you can't get to it from inside