Resecuring fixing buttons on polycarb roof

Our 20+ year-old conservatory roof is made from sheets of 10mm twinwall roughly 850mm wide. The distance between timber joists supporting this is half that distance - with each second joist having a glazin bar to secure the edges of neighbouring sheets. The intermediate joists (i.e. the ones at the centre of each sheet have fixing buttons through each sheet into the joist.

During the winter a number of these fixing buttons have popped up. The brief inspection I've done from a ladder propped up against the conservatory makes me think that the buttons are merely nailed through the twinwall and into the timber joists under the sheets.

There is also evidence of water ingress - possibly from failing joints on one or two of the glazing bars.

I can see four alternative courses of action, listed in increasing cost and hassles:

1.) bang the popped nails back in place, ignore the leaks and hope for the best 2.) replace (all) the fixing buttons with screw-in types. While up on the conservatory (I have no idea if the 20+ y/o roofing will bear my weight: I doubt it) see what I can do to fix the leaky bits 3.) Replace the old roof with a new one, either myself or get someone to do the whole lot. Prob. with 25mm triple, or "X" walled sheets. 4.) Move house

I have a sneaky feeling that although option (2) sounds promising, in reality it won't succeed, or will only appear to work until the next winter, which will end us up back where we are now.

Reply to
pete
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If the roof is 20 years old, the best option will be 3 or 4. It is getting to the age when repairs are going to become a regular problem otherwise. A few years ago it took me about a day to re-roof a large conservatory that had sound supporting bars.

I have always been pleased with the service from C&A plastics, who will have everything you want. If solar gain is a problem, their sheets with solar shield inserts are very effective.

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Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

I suspect you're right. The roof *is* getting rather opaque (not due to algae) and I would expect it's starting to become brittle, too. It does seem like one of those jobs that once you start, yuou have to follow through to the end - no matter what you reveal in the process.

recall their name. Having looked at their product range, their sheets are the wrong size for me - too big. I had a look at the weekend and found a supplier in Hull who appeared to offer the best price. I reckon £650 should cover (groan) my roofing costs for a

6 x 2.8m lean to.
Reply to
pete

On the roof I replaced, about half the sheets had gone opaque and had holes in, apparently from hailstones. I suspect that either it had already been partly replaced or some sheets had been laid the wrong way up, with the UV resisting coating on the bottom.

...

The roof I replaced was in France and, oddly enough, the C&A sheets were exactly the right width, while those available in France were too wide. The sheets I removed had signs of having been cut to width.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

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