Conservatory Roof Repair in Manchester

The three places it leaks, in the order we check them

The box gutter between the conservatory and the house is the usual culprit, because it is narrow, it is hidden, and everything shed off the main roof above lands in it. Moss, grit off concrete tile and leaves collect at the outlet, the gutter holds water, and it goes over the inside edge onto the wall plate. That is why it only leaks in a downpour and looks fine on a dry day. The wall abutment is next. That should be a dressed flashing turned into a raked out mortar joint, or a proprietary wall plate with a cover trim. On a great many conservatories it is a bead of silicone across the brickwork instead, and silicone on masonry lasts a few summers before it lets go at the top edge. The ridge and the glazing bars are third. Polycarbonate moves a long way with temperature and creeps down the bars over the years, so the bottom edge of a sheet ends up past the end cap with the gasket left behind it. Rain then runs into the bar and comes out along the eaves beam.

How to work out which one it is

Stand inside during heavy rain and watch where the water actually appears. It tells us more than any photograph. Water running down the underside of a glazing bar is the bar: a perished gasket, a lost end cap, or a sheet that has crept. Water appearing where the roof meets the house wall, only when it is really coming down, is the box gutter overtopping. A damp patch on the house wall above the conservatory is the same fault from the other side. Water inside the flutes of the sheet is a different thing and usually not a leak at all. If the tapes at the top and bottom edges are missing or the wrong way round, moisture gets into the flutes, cannot drain, and goes green. So does a sheet laid with the UV face down. Neither drips on your table, but both mean the panel is finished. And damp that appears on a cold morning with no rain is condensation. We would rather say that on the phone than charge you to come out and say it.

What happens if it is left

The wall plate that the conservatory roof sits on is the first casualty, because a box gutter that overtops feeds it every time it rains hard. Once that timber softens the roof is no longer sitting on anything adjustable, and a job that was a gutter clean and a reline becomes carpentry. Inside, water that gets into a glazing bar runs the length of it and comes out at the eaves beam, which is where the electrics usually are if the conservatory has lights or sockets. The staining in the flutes never comes out, so panels that could have been kept get replaced for how they look.

The conservatories round here

Most of what we work on across Salford, Worsley and Sale went up between the mid nineties and the mid two thousands, on interwar semis and post war estate housing. On a semi the box gutter runs against the main roof slope, and a roof of that age sheds moss and grit into it every winter, so it needs clearing far more often than anyone was told when it was built. Lean to conservatories against a rendered or pebbledashed wall are the awkward ones. There is no clean mortar joint to chase a flashing into, so the original fitter very often sealed the render instead, and that joint is where we find the leak. Where the house has a two storey rear, the main gutter above often discharges across the conservatory roof, which is a volume problem rather than a sealing one and no mastic fixes it.

How we repair one properly

We clear the box gutter, look at what is behind the debris, and reline it where the liner has split rather than putting sealant into a gutter that will move again in summer. At the wall we rake out a joint and dress a flashing into it where the brickwork allows, or fit a proper wall plate and cover trim where it does not. On the roof itself we refit sheets that have crept, renew the glazing bar gaskets and end caps, and re tape the sheet edges: solid foil tape along the top, vented breather tape along the bottom, so moisture in the flutes can get out. Sheets go back UV face up with the fixing holes oversized, because polycarbonate moves a long way and pinning it down is what cracks it. We work off a tower or a platform, never off the roof. A conservatory roof will not take a person, and a cracked sheet is a much bigger bill than the leak was. Dave sets all of it out in a free written quote before anything starts.

Repair or replace, and what affects the price

Almost every conservatory leak we go to is a repair. A junction that has failed is a junction job, and replacing the whole roof to cure a box gutter is like reroofing a house because a flashing has lifted. We will not sell you a new roof to fix a leak, even when you have arrived at the idea yourself. What moves the figure is which junction is involved. A gutter clear and a gasket set is at one end. A box gutter that has to come out and go back is at the other, because it carries every drop of water off two roofs. Then the number of panels and their thickness, since a 16mm sheet and a 35mm sheet are different money. Then whether there is a mortar joint to chase into or the wall is rendered. Then access, because a platform inside a planted garden takes longer to set up than a driveway. Replacing the roof is a decision about heat, noise and how much you use the room. That is not a repair, and it does not belong in a quote for a drip.

Frequently Asked Questions

It only leaks in heavy rain. Is that still worth fixing?

Yes, and it usually points at the box gutter, which only overtops when the volume coming off the main roof is high. It does the same every downpour and it soaks the wall plate while it does.

My panels have gone green inside. Can you clean them?

No. The green is algae growing in the flutes because moisture got in and could not drain out, and there is no washing it out of a sealed panel. Those sheets can be swapped and taped properly without touching the rest of the roof.

Can you just put sealant along where it meets the house?

We would rather not. Sealant on brickwork is what the last person did and it is why you are ringing us. A flashing dressed into a raked joint moves with the building and lasts, and it costs more on the day and less over ten years.

There is condensation on the inside of the glass every morning. Is the roof leaking?

Probably not. Condensation shows up on cold still mornings, a leak shows up in rain. If it only happens when it is dry outside, the room needs ventilation rather than a roofer.

Can you work on a glass conservatory roof as well as polycarbonate?

Yes. The junctions are the same and fail in the same order. The difference is the panels: a misted glass unit has failed and gets swapped, where a polycarbonate sheet can often be refitted and re taped.