Why is my conservatory leaking?

[sammy7boy]

Hi everyone. I'm sending this post to get some ideas as to why water runs down a corner of my conservatory when it rains, because I am now completely out of ideas. We moved in only a few months ago so I don't know the history; who constructed it etc. The house is 1980s construction so has cavity walls. I've included as many photos at possible.

So here are some details:

• The leak appears to come partly from the very top corner of the conservatory where the ceiling and the exterior wall of the house and the west-facing conservatory wall all meet, but it appears that substantially more water seems to run in by the top of the door frame (hard to say for sure). Curiously the masonry wall also seems to have a few small damp patches some distance away from the corner.

• The conservatory has a polycarbonate (i think) roof, which is pitched down from an exterior north-facing wall of the house. There are no other leaks.
• It has lead flashing which is cut into the rendering/brickwork (i think) and looks reasonable, as far as i can tell.
• Leaking only really seems to occurs in driving rain. The conservatory wall where the door is is west-facing (more or less) so gets more than its fair share of driving rain here in Devon.

And here's what I've already tried, which seems to have made little or no difference:

• I have slightly lifted the lead flashing directly above where the leak is coming from; removed a lot of grotty perished sealant; applied roof seal and bent it back down again. Then using roof seal I've completely filled the gap underneath the edge of the flashing so no wind/rain can blow under the flashing.

• I've painted roof seal on various exterior edges on the roof above the leak such as where the flashing meets the masonry (which you can see in grey on one of the images).

• Using roof seal I've painted all the way down the exterior edge where the conservatory wall meets the masonry wall. (There was already a seal here of course which i have just gone over).

• I've squeezed beads of all-weather sealant along between the uPVC panels on the outside of the conservatory wall so that the run-off down the conservatory wall doesn't get inside the panels.

After all this, more water leaked in yesterday in driving rain and I'm now pretty much completely out of ideas. Can anyone help?

 

[Lower]

In your 6th picture it appears that water will pool in the joint where the roof panel joins the wall and a strange piece of upvc that runs at 90 degrees out from the wall. In my experience, this shouldn't be there so that the water can flow straight off the roof panel into a gutter.

The water will be getting inside the UPVC framework and coming out in all sorts of weird and wonderful places.

 

[rssteve]

Is there a cavity tray fitted?

 

[sammy7boy]

Thanks Lower i think you're right about water getting inside the UPVC framework (i can't think of anthing else!). By "6th picture" do you mean the final picture? Yep there is an odd piece of horizontal UPVC that the water runs down to. I have squeezed beads of all-weather sealant all around it and haven't left any gaps for water to run into so not really sure how water can still be getting in here.

rrsteve i don't know if there's a cavity tray fitted. I don't see any obvious weep holes.

 

[Lower]

I mean the last but one photo. There is a black rubber seal that sits between the clear roof panel and the upvc. This won't stop pooled water from running into the upvc.

 

[sammy7boy]

Ok thanks. Water shouldn't pool there as it not a flat, it's pitched. Might not be obvious on the photo though!

 

[John D v2.0]

It'if it's not leaking through the face of the wall, it must be falling down the cavity. Perhaps the old door opening is deflecting the water outwards into the conservatory.
Is the render in good condition above? Is the roof felt draining into the cavity?
Might be worth removing a few tiles and if necessary a brick to see what the situation is.. You can get cavity trays for retro fit if necessary.

 

[garyo]

If you can see it leaking when it rains, then can you wait for a sunny day and get the hose pipe on specific pieces to determine if it's the roof plastic, the flashing, or the render (or even the guttering/roof above allowing ingress in to the cavity)?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Where's nosey to tell us how cavity trays are a waste of money and a ballache to fit?

 

[sammy7boy]

Thanks for all the replies. Yep i'm seriously wondering now whether water running down the cavity is at the heart of the problem. And if you look at whereabouts down the door frame the leaks are coming from, they roughly coincide with the screws that go from the door frame into the masonry wall! So i'm starting to wonder whether water could be wicking from the cavity across the screws from the UPVC door frame. I'll have a really good investigation tomorrow. The rendering looks decent but i'll go up into the loft and see if there are any roofing leaks into the cavity, and I'll unscrew some of the screws from the door frame and see if they're damp and/or rusty as well. The proper solution is of course to install a cavity tray above the conservatory roof. The cheap and lazy solution might be to take the screws from the door frame out and cake them with thick grease and hope they make a watertight seal . In any case cheers for your help so far, i feel like i'm finally making progress again here!

 

[noseall]

Where's nosey to tell us how cavity trays are a waste of money and a ballache to fit?

Nonsense! We always fit them as part of an ongoing build, here's one we did last week......

20170323_092041

• noseall
• 30 Mar 2017

20170322_085229

• noseall
• 30 Mar 2017

I think you missed one important word there Freddie and that is "retrospectively" fit them.

I don't think the OP's issue is a CT issue either. I'll bet none of that render wasn't hacked back prior to any of the plastic or lead products being fitted.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You know full well I was referring to retrofitting nosey.

 

[Lower]

https://www.diynot.com/diy/attachments/006-jpg.116525/

This is the image i'm referring to. Unless i misunderstand you description this photo shows where the clear (mouldy green) roof panel joins the UPVC section that joins the wall. There is a black rubber seal that seals the roof panel joins the UPVC and then

Ok thanks. Water shouldn't pool there as it not a flat, it's pitched. Might not be obvious on the photo though!

Looking at the photo again, i've got my orientation wrong. Water wouldn't pool there. Ignore me....