Advice re. Conservatory frame coming away from external wall

inquisitivewanderer

So we bought our house 5 years ago, and the conservatory was falling down due to rot in the existing wooden frame, as well as the roof being on the verge of collapse.

We therefore budgeted (following a consultation) from a local window/conservatory specialist for what would be replacement of the wooden frame with upvc, as well as self-cleaning glass roof on top of the existing dwarf wall.

5 years on, we've had no issues, however this last week I noticed that on the one side of the conservatory, the upvc frame has moved a couple of cm's away from the wall, exposing a gap that I can see through straight outside!!!
I have no idea how long the gap has been there, but fairly certain it wasn't there in the summer months.

We were looking to sell next year, and I'm not keen on the idea of just covering it up for any potential buyer to then suffer a shock further down the line, but having had a local conservatory fitter come and look this week, he suspects the footings have moved and says its a big job (take it down/re-erect) to fix.

The company that built the conservatory 5 years ago no longer exist as the owner/fitter died last year through alcohol abuse (small town so we get to know these things!!), and we were never supplied with a receipt/invoice for the work despite constant calls and even visits to his house for the paperwork.

Feeling quite deflated, since this could potentially be £10k worth of work to fix and hey, just like that, there goes our stamp duty fees!

Can anyone offer any advice? I had thought about calling my house insurer but was put off by a friend who stated that premiums will go up through potentially the insurer suspecting subsidence (even though there definitely isn't any).

Aylesbury_Duck

If the footings have moved (and nearly every conservatory is built on shallower foundations than a proper extension) then it will need to be taken down and re-erected. It's possible that the slab it sits on has cracked. When we bought our current house that had happened to the very old conservatory we inherited so we took the opportunity to have it all taken down, the slab broken up and much deeper foundations dug. Even then, on our clay soil we get movement between long, dry summers and mild wet winters, but the movement is minimal and manifests itself in the doors needing a little adjustment.

It sounds like your situation is more serious. It will need sorting sooner or later. Up to you whether you do it now or leave it to a new owner to sort out, but it'll crop up on their survey so will probably affect their offer anyway.

Personally, I'd sort it now so you get the benefit of the fix until you sell and possibly longer if you don't or can't sell.