[Closed] Any conservatory experts in the house.... (i know there was one 😉

Your right to think that by far the best long lasting method is to grind out the mortor above the conservatory line and install lead flashing. It's the only way worth doing. Get them to do it, even if they charge you extra.

cheers, forgot to add, the back of the house is brick but then there's about 3 inches of render/skimmed coating.

i just have 'that feeling' they are not going to use lead flashing and your right i will get them to do it even if it is extra.

i might be wrong when i get home tonight!

Mmm sounds like conservaflash. If fitted properly it's as good as lead flashing. If it is, the top of the plastic sections should still be cut into the brickwork though, it won't work if it's just stuck on the outside as the bricks are porus and any water seeping into the bricks higher up the wall will just run down through the bricks themselves into the conservatory.

Other than that it sounds OK. You could be really lucky and get real cowboys doing it, the conservatory on the house behind me never got flashed at all. They cut the line in the bricks for the lead and then forget about actually putting the lead into the groove.

Pics would help make a better diagnosis, as would the name of the roofing system, it's probably a Synseal (Global brand name), K2 (not sure of brand name) or Ultraframe (Classic brand name or possibly uzone). There's a good chance that the company supplying the conservatory didn't make the roof, it could have been made by one of the main manufacturers or through one of the fabricator companies.

That's crap. My neighbour had crappiflash and the builders are regularly out bothcing repairs. It still leaks, and it looks like a PG Tips chimp has done the sealing. Mine was done properly, with lead. And it's been snug and dry for 6 years now.

But if you didn't ask before quotes and before they start, it might be a bit late to renegotiate now.

hi stumpyjon (it was you!!) 🙂

the builders got the conservatory from here..

[url= http://www.thefittersfriend.com/ ]LINKY[/url]

you hit the nail on the head, all the UPVC bits have Synseal (Global brand name) stickers on them.

i have a pics and will try and get it up on here...

Ah, not one of ours then, it'll self distruct 😆 30 minutes after the builders leave site 😆

Seriously I don't think Global roofs are as technically as good as Ultraframe ones but they are still pretty good. The long term quality of the conservatory is always heavily influenced by the quality of installation. As the others have said for any flashing system to work it must be cut into the brick work, doesn't matter if it's lead, PVC or Yak hair, it needs to create the barrier into the face of the wall.

you should have cavtiy trays installed above the roof line if it is fitted against a cavity wall, then flashed properly preferablly with lead, min code 4 and no longer than 1.2m sections from memory.

cheers,

damn it havent got my phone lead in work, i'll take some pics of the 'latest stage' when i get home.

oh if you take alook at page 2 on this PDF [url= http://www.ultraframe-conservatories.co.uk/File/CONSERVAFLASH%20SALES.pdf ]linky again[/url], the bottom right-hand pic (above step 3)looks identical to ours the 'pre-formed soaker' is installed

I was always under the impression you use lead flashing and box guttering....

As Bear says above, technically there should be cavity trays installed above the flashing if it is a cavity wall (very rarely done!) and for longer term peace of mind the flashing should be cut into the wall with a curled edge.

Does the conservatory roof fall to the house wall or is it a lean-to? You mention box gutter - if the conservatory roof does fall to the house wall then a box gutter properly flashed would IME be the correct method.

EDIT: Just looked at your link above. Box gutter not required. Stepped flashing better than taped.

tidy darts!

came home copious amounts of lead flashing used, all very neat and tidy

cheers all

monkey_boy

that's the stuff although that's the one made by firm, I expect the Synseal stuff to be very similar. One of the R & D guys walked past my desk when I was posting earlier and I double checked with him and you absolutely need to sink the flashing into the wall. The preformed soaker is there to chanel any water that does come over the front of the flashing away to the gutter rather than it running over the glazing bars. Some old school fitters won't use it but instead will run the lead over the top of the starter (abutment) bar.

psling is also absolutely right, if you really want to make sure you don't get any damp cavity trays are the best way to go although they are a pain to retro fit and to be honest I doubt many installers will go to those lengths. Again as psling says, boxgutter only neede if the roof slopes towards a house wall, usually not required.

Fitting a cavity tray would be extremely expensive though....... you'd have to demolish the outer leaf of the cavity wall, install the tray then rebuild the wall.

Some old school fitters won't use it but instead will run the lead over the top of the starter (abutment) bar.

i think thats what they have done, doesnt look the most aesthetically pleasing but hey ho, they have cut into the wall about 2", sealed the top of the flashing.(seems to be some type of metal staples at intervals all the way up aswell?

the soaker seems to be sealed aswell with some strange foam type gubbins between it and the wall.....

some crap pics....

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Looks fine to me that.

river X, it is possible to fit the trays without removing the outer leaf, yuo just take a line of bricks out. The builders who built my home had to to do it across the front about four months after I moved in cos they'd tried to bodge it with damp proof course first time around and it leaked.

as stumpy said, remove course of bricks, fit tray, rebuild move on to next tray.

Arbotech saws are the tool required for fitting them, great bit of kit.

Congratulations, you are the newest member of the worlds least eco-friendly building society 🙂

Hope you've already sorted out the heating.

Congratulations, you are the newest member of the worlds least eco-friendly building society

i know i had thought about that.

i don't feel the cold, but were putting a radiator in there for the wife and imminent baby.

the 'nesting' power of a women is amazing. i loved my decking but 3 weeks later a white plastic lego building has been stuck on the back.

+1 for cavity trays

if it is south facing and you have an insulated solid floor then there can be a lot of solar gain from them.

^^ In other words you can cook 😆

But it balences out in the Winter cos you'll freeze, um I didn't just say that out loud did I........

We're working on some things to make the roof a lot more insulating (although some of the more expensive glass units are pretty good already), biggest trouble is heat disapation in the Summer. If the roof isn't well vented temperatures can really build up in the roof. And then people fit blinds in them which really causes the heat to build up, get trapped and then eventually distort the claddings and cappings so the glazing falls out 😆

Meanwhile no way is my decking being sacrificed for a white plastic box, a nice sage green one on the other hand.....

could always see what has the building control officer says about the weathering