Hi
We recently purchased a home with an attached sunroom. The sunroom has several leaks in the roof and I’m at a general loss on how to fix them correctly – short of tearing it down and rebuilding. Since the only way to describe the problem is with pictures, I created a blog that has pics and descriptions of the leaks.
http://leakysunroomroof.wordpress.com/
Thanks in advace!
kitchen.uk
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Replies
Simple fix -- just put "kitchen.uk" in your post somewhere.
DanH - Thanks! Here is the link to the blog.
http://leakysunroomroof.wordpress.com/
kitchen.uk
aka "spam" caulk. Cheapest
aka "spam" caulk. Cheapest stuff out there.
Sunroom is a pretty ambiguous term.
What kind of roof are we talking about? Aluminum pan?
Sorry....
Greg - I'm not familiar with the terminology, but I know it's a snap together kit and has combination roof made of corrugated metal, windows and some kind of styrofoam sandwitched between alimunum sheets. It's leaking in three obvious spots and my feeling is that there isn't a straight forward solution. Maybe you have some advice as to the best possible approach. I updated my original post with the link to the pictures.
Thanks
It looks like the caulking has failed. Two ideas spring to mind. There are some roof coatings that might seal this or you could do an aluminum roof over with standing seam pan roof.
Thanks Greg - can you recommend a manufacturer of aluminum roofs for this type of application? I'm curious to see my options.
These panels are rolled from coil stock. Around here one of the main suppliers is Cameron Ashley but they sell through distributors and contractors.
These panels are rolled from coil stock. Around here one of the main suppliers is Cameron Ashley but they sell through distributors and contractors.
forest for the trees
Let's see...a Bucky Fuller structure connecting a leaky glass atrium by way of some sort of gambrel roofed apendage. I hate to break it to you, but it seems to me that some things just aren't worth fixing. Have you considered building an more architecturally integrated (and water proof) roof over this structure.... or tearing it down and starting again?
Otherwise, I'm sure that if you throw enough metal flashing, bubblemgum, and caulk at this roof you can cure the immediate ill.
Oh yes - I've considered all of these solutions. We've only owned the house for about two months so I'm still deciding which route to take. Thankfully, it seems to have a professional foundation - so that's a plus. I'll never understand why people spend significant money to build half-a** structures.
Hopefully you didn't spend the same significant money buying it.
Nope - we got a good deal on this one.......well, we're just starting the renovations, hopefully I didn't speak too soon.
These "sunrooms" are usually
These "sunrooms" are usually built with aluminum extrusions and some sort of flexible gaskets. If you decide on a complete re-do, it's probably worth disassembling these parts carefully for possible inclusion in a future design that is not such a mixture of different stuff. I suspect that most of your leaks are due to poor craftsmanship and successive add ons that were improperly integrated into previously constructed parts. Failure of individual components of the prefab structrue is probably due to improper installation.
You nailed it Mike - the ultimate problem with this structure is poor craftsmanship. They integrated all kinds of different components and most of the stuff just doesn't fit together.
The ones we see in Florida use pan roof that interlocks together or uses a drive flange with no gaskets necessary.
I have some each. The drive flange type is the simpler design, just a single layer. The interlocking roof usually gets 3" of foam insulation dropped in and a cover piece over that.
The roof products start at the bottom of page 16
http://landisaluminum.com/Aluminum%20Catalog.html
Thanks Greg - I've been trying to find a link to something like this that has a list of the different products....
The trick is finding a local distributors who will sell to the general public. Around here the aluminum contractors have a strangle hold on the suppliers and they make sure the mark up makes their installtion look like a deal.
You might be able to order the 3" riser pan from HomeDepot/Lowes for about $4 a square foot. Wholesale is less than half that.
I'm starting to realize that this is a common theme in many construction products, but that kind of markup on an aluminum part is crazy.
I'm fairly confident that this could be fixed, without a total disassembly, but it would take a careful on-site examination.
Probably the most practical fix would be a combination of flashing and glopping. Eg, you might install the L flashing you speak of at the top joint, but notch around that center joining strip and glop that area. But it would take on-site examination to say for sure.
That is encouraging - with the rainy season coming up fast I am starting to lean this direction to hold me over until next summer. Maybe I'll rip the brown flashing off and see if I can get creative with that too. I know I can't make it leak any worse than it already does. The sagging main beam concerns me too though - I would think that size beam would be more than enough to support this type of roof. Maybe it's due to all the knots?
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