HELP - DIY/Builders forum required

27col

If the picture is looking from the inside of the conservatory, then what you are looking at is the bottom of the outer skin of bricks. Even with good brickwork, wind driven rain will percolate through the outer skin. That is why there is a cavity. If the conservatory was not there the water would come out of the weep hole and fall to the ground on the outside of the house. But because there is a conservatory, the water is ending up inside it. My thought is that it is almost certainly a problem with water from higher up the wall and the flashing is not catching it before it reaches the lintel. I had a similar problem and it was only cured by inserting cavity trays in the wall to divert the water out of the wall before it reached the lintel. This involved removing bricks to insert the trays. Rendering the brickwork would probably be one solution. I have been considering tile hanging my wall to stop the water reaching it at all. This must be a common problem with conservatories and presumably there is a simple solution. But I suspect that it would need to be done when the conservatory is being built.

jakem_2

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/index.php

One of the friendilist helpful sites I have ever been on, you will have to register to post a question, but it will be worth it, you will get excellent advice from there.

kogsawelly

Hi
Just a thought...
Could it be leaves blocking the guttering around the conservatory causing a build up of water in the gutter?
Sometimes water, if laying for long enough and high enough will find its way passed a seal / sealent joint and along an external extrusions that could end up coming out anywhere!
chrs

plumb1_2

Plasterer wrote: »

Could you run a clear silicone bead along the affected area between house and conservatory?

Thats is a bogged job, and will cause more problems.

plumb1_2

The plastic inserts are weep holes for the cavity tray, and must not be blocked, they are there for a reason, to let any water that gets into the cavity. it is unlikely to be getting through the brickwork. I would suspect your roof, the end of the felt might be perished? broken slate/tile.

Or if you have a window above the area, it could be the sealing mastic around the frame, driving rain in windy conditions.
The only way to cure it is the fit another cavity tray above the conservatory.

I dont think you would have a claim against the housebuilder or the conservatory people.

johnfarquhar74

plumb1 wrote: »

I dont think you would have a claim against the housebuilder or the conservatory people.

Thanks for the reply.
To be honest, I'm not looking to place blame, looking for a quick and effective resolution.

Having looked into it a little further, it would appear the conservatory builders have used something akin to an angle grinder to cut a groove into the brick work for the roof line of the conservatory then hammered in the lead flashing, followed up with a good dose of silicone. There is no evidence of cavity trays being installed at the conservatory roof line, don't know if this is the norm or not but water that is being driven in by the wind is now running down the inside of the brick leaf wall and where it hits the original door lintels (kitchen & dining room) and it's basically dripping out on to the plaster board. Wet plaster board has now been cut away and buckets placed out to catch the drips.
Going to contact conservatory builders tomorrow and see if cavity trays were meant to be used or whether that's something that is only advised online?!?

Anyway, as they say, it never rains but pours. In the last year I have had a flooded kitchen due to the heat exchanger in my boiler failing. When the gas service company came out to fix that, they turned off the water mains and when it was turned back on, the sudden high pressure caused a washer in my toilet to go, resulting in a flooded dining room ceiling. We then got a qualified 'safe gas' registered tech out to drain/flush/clean our heating system, in doing so he came across a proper [EMAIL="b@$t@rd"]b@$t@rd[/EMAIL] of an airlock, so to chase it out he turned the pumps up to max, which in turn caused a 'quick plumb'? joint to fail, resulting in 100L of hot water to come through my living room ceiling. Insurance guys came out, repaired and repainted all affected plaster board, relaid flooring and finished about 2 weeks ago. NOW THIS!
I don't know who I upset or !!!!!! off, by I'm truly, truly sorry!

plumb1_2

johnfarquhar74 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
To be honest, I'm not looking to place blame, looking for a quick and effective resolution.

Having looked into it a little further, it would appear the conservatory builders have used something akin to an angle grinder to cut a groove into the brick work for the roof line of the conservatory then hammered in the lead flashing, followed up with a good dose of silicone. There is no evidence of cavity trays being installed at the conservatory roof line, don't know if this is the norm or not but water that is being driven in by the wind is now running down the inside of the brick leaf wall and where it hits the original door lintels (kitchen & dining room) and it's basically dripping out on to the plaster board.
!

Cutting a grove into the brickwork to fit the lead flashing to a COWBOY job, only the mortor should be racked out.

ormus

the screwfix website has a good forum too.
plenty of real builders on there, and plumbers, sparkys, chippys etc...

iamcornholio

What commonly happens when conservatories (and extensions) are added to existing buildings, is that the roof is just butted up to the external house wall, lead or suchlike flashing fitted, and everything looks nice.

However, what should happen, is that a cavity tray should be installed into the house wall to stop rainwater running internally within the cavity and exiting in your nice new plastered room.

This seems to be what is occuring here.

Most of the time, there will not be enough rain, or the rain is hitting from a different direction, and so it does not exit at the head of the door, because it is absorbed into the wall structure and then later evaporates naturally. But every now and again the rain is too much to be absorbed by the wall, and so it makes it down the cavity to the head of the door opening and then leeches out.

You need to have a cavity tray installed above the height of the conservatory roof.

Alternatively, a waterproofing solution applied the the external wall above the conservatory roof, may prevent rain ingress into the wall.

But also check for possible damaged cills or main roof eaves, ans these can let water into the wall cavity too.

johnfarquhar74

iamcornholio wrote: »

Most of the time, there will not be enough rain, or the rain is hitting from a different direction, and so it does not exit at the head of the door,

However, what should happen, is that a cavity tray should be installed into the house wall to stop rainwater running internally within the cavity and exiting in your nice new plastered room.

You seem to be spot on with your observations, everything outside looks OK, upstairs windows, sills and pointing look as was before. I just don't think we've had this volume of rain from the east to what is an east facing wall. As soon as the rain turned to snow, later on this evening, the drips stopped.
I now need to figure out who I should turn to to get the cavity trays installed. When the conservatory was completed, we were issued with a completion certificate/guarantee similar to NHBC but there was also some sort of insurance policy backed by Lloyds. If the conservatory builders have cut corners then perhaps we can get them back to remedy the repair?!?