Water ingress in conservatory wall

dos29

Looking for advice from more knowledgeable than me again .
Found 2 damp patches in the conservatory wall of our ongoing build.
The wall itself is on the side most exposed to driving rain.
Its an 8" full filled cavity, but the steel work for the conservatory was done nearer to the inside leaf (the person responsible done it
the same distance to inside leaf as if it were a 4" cavity for some reason!!:mad::mad: All too late for me to get it changed).
My guess is the water is coming in at the weak point at the window couplings, then making it past DPC where steel runs down,
through the bonded bead and soaking through the wall.
Attached pics are of the inside and outside views of the two damp points.

I'd really appreciate any advice on what I might be able to do to remedy it, or hear from someone unfortunate enough to have had similar happen.
My only idea is to paint on some heavy duty type sealant on the outside of the couplings but I don't know how realistic that is!

martinn123

dos29 wrote: »

Looking for advice from more knowledgeable than me again .
Found 2 damp patches in the conservatory wall of our ongoing build.
The wall itself is on the side most exposed to driving rain.
Its an 8" full filled cavity, but the steel work for the conservatory was done nearer to the inside leaf (the person responsible done it
the same distance to inside leaf as if it were a 4" cavity for some reason!!:mad::mad: All too late for me to get it changed).
My guess is the water is coming in at the weak point at the window couplings, then making it past DPC where steel runs down,
through the bonded bead and soaking through the wall.
Attached pics are of the inside and outside views of the two damp points.

I'd really appreciate any advice on what I might be able to do to remedy it, or hear from someone unfortunate enough to have had similar happen.
My only idea is to paint on some heavy duty type sealant on the outside of the couplings but I don't know how realistic that is!

That,s a Sunroom, not a Conservatory.

Picture 4shows something wrong, it looks like the gap between the frames and the bay-pole has been siliconed, why?
Maybe it's just the photo, anyway I would start there, have you any pics of the construction, you mention steel supports, and a 4in or 8in cavity, the steel should be carried down to the foundations, but where are the windows in relation to this, inside of the outside leaf, would be correct, with a window boards closing the cavity.

Pic 4also seems to show gaps under the frames, is there an upstanding on the cill, if so there should be a bead under the window, I can't see that.
Stand further back, at the picture 4view and take another pic, and post,
From pic 3 the width of the cill, just looks wrong, may be related to the position of the windows on the blocks.

teepee

For a start the cill is poured wrong there should be at least a 12mm gap under the drip rail of the window , it look like the window is enbeded in the cill in places which looks like it was poured after the event of the window installation . The best solution to this problem is rip it out and redo it right as it should of be from day one .

With regard to the pipes its not a great detail as its pron to leaks . A mitred joined by the manufactures would be best practice . It welded with silicon , silicon only has a external life span of a few years in exposed areas . The silicon has gone white from exposer and has lifted .

dos29

martinn123 wrote: »

That,s a Sunroom, not a Conservatory.

Picture 4shows something wrong, it looks like the gap between the frames and the bay-pole has been siliconed, why?
Maybe it's just the photo, anyway I would start there, have you any pics of the construction, you mention steel supports, and a 4in or 8in cavity, the steel should be carried down to the foundations, but where are the windows in relation to this, inside of the outside leaf, would be correct, with a window boards closing the cavity.

Pic 4also seems to show gaps under the frames, is there an upstanding on the cill, if so there should be a bead under the window, I can't see that.
Stand further back, at the picture 4view and take another pic, and post,
From pic 3 the width of the cill, just looks wrong, may be related to the position of the windows on the blocks.

Firstly, thanks for the reply.
The silicone I'm guessing is cos the window and coupler didn't line up properly.
There is a steel skeleton of the whole thing running from the foundation with windows fitted in line meeting at the points mentioned with the silicone above. That steel is then clad in the round pvc couplings as I've been calling them.
8" cavity, but the steel is very close to the inside leaf. Only a small cavity left to close with window board, and you can see from the outside pics the size we had to go with the sill to cover the remainder of the cavity.
Sill had to be poured in place, so no upstsnding if I understand what you mean.
I'll try and find a pic from mid construction and get one from the angle you mentioned.

dos29

teepee wrote: »

For a start the cill is poured wrong there should be at least a 12mm gap under the drip rail of the window , it look like the window is enbeded in the cill in places which looks like it was poured after the event of the window installation . The best solution to this problem is rip it out and redo it right as it should of be from day one .

With regard to the pipes its not a great detail as its pron to leaks . A mitred joined by the manufactures would be best practice . It welded with silicon , silicon only has a external life span of a few years in exposed areas . The silicon has gone white from exposer and has lifted .

Thanks also, sounds like your onto something.
Your spot on about the sill being poured after the fact. Raging that it could be as simple as not leaving a lip. Ripping it out completely is a big enough step. Would the problem maybe have more to do with the window joints seeing as the inside wall is only damp at those points?
The windows were sourced from the north, fairly wide triple glazed units, fitted by local lads who work in that line. Can the mitred joint you mentioned be made to match? Cos I think they just used what they were used to using for that point.

Naux

dos29 wrote: »

Firstly, thanks for the reply.
The silicone I'm guessing is cos the window and coupler didn't line up properly.
There is a steel skeleton of the whole thing running from the foundation with windows fitted in line meeting at the points mentioned with the silicone above. That steel is then clad in the round pvc couplings as I've been calling them.
8" cavity, but the steel is very close to the inside leaf. Only a small cavity left to close with window board, and you can see from the outside pics the size we had to go with the sill to cover the remainder of the cavity.
Sill had to be poured in place, so no upstsnding if I understand what you mean.
I'll try and find a pic from mid construction and get one from the angle you mentioned.

No upstand on the cill!!!! Rip it out and start again.

As far as I know the cill should be in place before the window is installed.

I think if you are getting driving rain on that side it will be pretty much unsealable if left the way it is.

dos29

Naux wrote: »

No upstand on the cill!!!! Rip it out and start again.

As far as I know the cill should be in place before the window is installed.

I think if you are getting driving rain on that side it will be pretty much unsealable if left the way it is.

Unfortunately between the steel frame being put too near inner leaf and size of cavity, windows having to fit steel frame, all combined to mean the sill had to be poured after. Wont be easy to rip out I'd imagine.

martinn123

dos29 wrote: »

Firstly, thanks for the reply.
The silicone I'm guessing is cos the window and coupler didn't line up properly.
There is a steel skeleton of the whole thing running from the foundation with windows fitted in line meeting at the points mentioned with the silicone above. That steel is then clad in the round pvc couplings as I've been calling them.
8" cavity, but the steel is very close to the inside leaf. Only a small cavity left to close with window board, and you can see from the outside pics the size we had to go with the sill to cover the remainder of the cavity.
Sill had to be poured in place, so no upstsnding if I understand what you mean.
I'll try and find a pic from mid construction and get one from the angle you mentioned.

You have a basic design error here, and everything follows on from that.
The Skeleton you mention should have been on the inside of the outside block, and the inside edge of the windows, on the inside edge of the outside block also, cill should have been in place before windows stood up.
Someone forgot, or did not know, you have an 8'' cavity, so the position of the windows is out by 4'' on each side and also on the projection.
Thus you have a narrow window board on the inside, and a larger than planned for cill, to cover the cavity, all wrong.
No upstand on the cill, = no drip on the bottom of the windows.

The couplers where the silicone is used, have been butchered by the fitters.

Get your Arch/Engineer to advise as a consequence of the design flaw, water is getting in, probably in a number of places.

dos29

Thanks for all the insight so far.
I've attached a few pics from back along.
So water coming in probably at both the pvc cladding and the junction between sill and windows.
I'm thinking its only making it through to inside leaf through weak point in dpm where steel frame is passing through it, hence the damp inside being at those points.
Reason sills weren't in place before windows is the windows were secured to top steel first.
Can anyone suggest replacement for corner pvc? Or is it just a case of legwork asking window companies?

martinn123

As I suggested before, the windows are in the wrong position, due to the 8'' cavity which was not in the Sunroom design.

To fit the windows just hanging from the vertical steel above is wrong.

As it's a design error, I can only suggest you seek an engineer, architect to advise, as to be honest, water can be coming in from so many different areas, it's difficult to give proper advice, without a site visit.

Talk to the person who designed this, and see what they propose,

You don't want to hear this, but if I designed and built this, I would have taken it down and started again.
Maybe someone can suggest a patch that might work.