Conservatory Roof Repair in Manchester
A conservatory that drips in heavy rain is nearly always leaking at a junction rather than through a panel. The three places we look are the box gutter where the conservatory meets the house, the abutment along the wall, and the ridge with its glazing bars and end caps. We repair conservatory roof leaks, refit slipped or cracked polycarbonate and renew failed seals and gaskets. Dave looks at it first and gives you a free written quote, and he will tell you if it is a small job.
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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.
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The conservatories round here
The estates across Worsley, Whitefield, and Sale are full of cheap lean-to conservatories thrown up during the late nineties housing boom. Thin polycarbonate, minimal flashing, and narrow box gutters. Wet westerly winds drive rain back up those box gutters and over the internal edge. The water runs down the dwarf wall and rots the skirting boards. We see the same failure pattern on Edwardian conservatories in Monton and on lean-tos in Swinton. The frames are usually still sound. The roof is the problem. That is why a targeted repair (box gutter reline, wall flashing, ridge reseal) sorts the leak without a full replacement.
How we repair one properly
We clear the box gutter, relining it where the liner has split rather than using a temporary sealant. At the wall we rake out a joint and dress a lead flashing where the brickwork allows, or fit a wall plate with a cover trim where the wall is rendered. On the roof, sheets are re-taped: solid foil on top, vented breather on the bottom, so moisture in the flutes can drain instead of going green. We check the sheet is UV face up, and we open the fixing holes so the sheet can expand and contract, because pinning it down splits it. We work off a tower, never the roof. Dave sets it out in a free written quote.
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.
Areas we cover for conservatory roof repair
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150+ Google reviews. Dave has 25 years on the tools.
Free written quote with no obligation.