Conservatory Roof Leaking

[benamy]

Hi

I have a leak that does not always happen but appears to only be when the rain comes in from a certain direction. I have attached a picture and was seeking advise on would it help if I tightened all the small nuts that appear to hold all the bars together. Did not want to touch them in case it made it worse. Any thoughts???

 

[foxhole]

You need to identify leak location .

 

[benamy]

Easier said than done. I obviously cannot loosen the nuts or remove the plate as that would really cause a problem and it is difficult to see underneath it. On the outside there is very little to see and not easy to get to. Thanks for the thought anyway.

 

[jj4091]

You would need to do it from outside not inside. Take an outside pic of that juncion from where you think the wind is blowing it in. Use stepladder if necasary.

 

[ronniecabers]

Gonna be honest, conservatory roof leaks like these can be a right pain to solve. It is potentially the foam padding and silicone sealant that has ' let go ' , or it could be the main ridge cap , or even the junction of the main ridge cap to wall. ( i seen it from all three places but dripping from the finial undercap ) Water can penetrative anywhere and seep through various channels and exit at its easiest and lowest point.
Firstly you need to decide which side you think it is coming in , then as youbhave the inner cap of , see of there is any obvious places it could be running from , them unfortunately you will need to go outside, potentially removing the top cap to see whats going on...now tbh , I wouldn't remove yhe cap, I'd just be looking at resealing everywhere I can see that has had sealant applied previously, including getting up under the semi circular cap, just pump it full and push it in , as long as youbcant see it from the ground it should be ok .
Now before anyone jumps on me saying ' this is a botch ' , very few double glazing companies will evem get involved at looking at leaks on old conservatories, as suddenly any future leaks become their problem .. so they wont remove the capping outside, as it runs a real risk of creating even more leaks that suddenly became their problem in the future that they are expected to fix for free due to trying to solve this initial leak. Obvioulsy being your own conservatory you might want to remove the ridge to check, but depending on the system that may not be as easy as you first think..... hence why I say just reseal it and fill any areas with clear low modulus silicone where you think it may be leaking

Good luck ... you may need it

Ps ... i know it sounds like doom and gloom but trust me , old leaky conservatory roofs can be a nightmare but some can be an easy fix if obvious

 

[crank39]

An ultraframe roof by looks of it. Lost count of how many of these I've fixed but most roofs are the same but unfortunately it means everything needing to be sealed is on the outside. Ronnie is right that there's a foam bung above the ali plate where all the rafters push into and seal, 9/10 the leak is down the centre of the bung, easiest things to check first is make sure all the sheets that meet around that junction are pushed up and not slipped down, hard to tell at the top because they go under the semi circular crown so check along the bottom, are they all in line, is one a couple of inches lower?

My procedure would be...

- Remove the spike from the outer crown, should unscrew

- pop out the 4 plastic clips holding the crown onto the main ridge capping, this should have been siliconed on so will be tight to slide off

- now you should see the foam insert/bung and in the centre you could possibly even see down into the conservatory

- belt and braces this part, slide the first section of finials out of the ridge cap, clean and dry the channel

- apply silicone in channel and slide finial back in

- with expanding foam fill the centre of the foam bung and anywhere around the rafters you see that looks suspect

- from here slide the crown back on making sure to applying silicone to the ridge cap before sliding crown back on, then screw together and use white screw caps because you probably snapped the 4 plastic clips

- before screwing the spike on seal the end of the finial where it meets the spike, put a big thick ring of silicone around the brass threaded insert and screw the spike on

In some extreme cases I've had to slide the complete ridge off to seal it against the house wall, means internal crown off, which you already have, internal ridge off, ceiling fan off if you have one, down lighters too, vertical tie bar if you have it, remove plastic wedges by pulling down on threaded plastic rods, this releases the ridge which then needs to be slid off the front of the roof, it doesn't lift off, now you can do your investigation

You can see why a lot of companies won't touch conservatory roofs especially ones they didn't fit because it can be very difficult to trace leaks and they don't want to buy someone else's problems

 

[pcaouolte]

My procedure would be...

Out of interest, because I'm going to have to try to reseal my own conservatory roof, how do you gain access to the ridge?

I cant reach the ridge from a stepladder and I don't know how much weight I can put on the bars that support the Polycarbonate roof sheets

Do I try to slide a Polycarbonate roof sheet out to give ladder access?

 

[crank39]

With these but at 1k a set I don't think you'll be having a set, the rafters will support well over 200kg point loading, I'm not a small guy @120kg rugby player build and they support me, I wouldn't put a lot of weight in the middle of a sheets, the edges are fine to rest on if you need to catch your balance or adjust your position, a glass roof is fine, if it's toughened(very likely) then you can kneel on it then watch it bend

You could slide some panels down easily from under the rafters caps, sliding them back under can be tricky so you may need to peel the caps up from the gutter end while sliding the sheets back under then with a rubber mallet just knock them back down

To be honest I haven't done many recently and glad of it, not as nimble as I once was, leave it to the young un's

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You can hire those conservatory roof ladders apparently.

 

[crank39]

Yes you can