How to fix leaking polycarbonate roofing attached to house?

[azza0712]

Hi everyone

Due to recent rains, noticed the massive waterfalls coming between house and polycarbonate roofing, this roofing was installed prior we moved in by the previous owner, the slope is toward to the house gutter. I managed to check the roof ,Some of roof sheeting are touch the roof tile as well, just not been installed correctly. 

Looking for solution to avoid the water leaks from here, thank you.

[EricL]

Hello @azza0712

Thank you for sharing your question about fixing a leak in your polycarbonate roofing. It would seem that there is more going on here than just a few sheets being short of the roof gutter. This is a full-on overflow of the rain gutter which is often caused by too much rainwater flowing into the channel and the outlet not being able to cope. When there is too much water in the gutter, the outlet becomes overwhelmed and a vacuum lock occurs slowing the drain even further.

I suggest trying out two solutions, first one is to change your dropper to an Abey Australia 100mm Round Downpipe Pops and change your current downpipe size to 100mm. The second one is to add a second outlet at the other end of the rain gutter in the same size. However, if you still get overflowing issues, the odds are there is too much water entering the gutter. The only solution that I can recommend is to put in a second gutter that will service the polycarbonate roofing only. 

Let me call on our experienced members @TedBear and @JoeAzza for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[JoeAzza]

@azza0712  I agree with @EricL , the gutters can’t cope with the heavy down pours. This might be a silly question, have you checked and cleaned out the gutters, not just leaves , but dirt that turns into mud sediment, I had a similar situation recently, once I cleaned out the gutters, so far all working good.

[TedBear]

The design seems like a recipe for disaster. I assume that both the house roof and the polycarbonate run into the same gutter. There will be swirling of these two water sources before they begin to flow away to the sides where the outlet is/are. That will cause a delay and the overflow of water. It sounds like this "standing wave" effect may be occurring before the water even reaches the gutter, because you said that the the polycarbonate sheets meet near the tiles. You are correct to say it's not installed correctly. 

You could try just cutting the polycarbonate (in place) so the the water can at least get into the gutter, but a better solution will require changing the slope of the roof to get the polycarbonate section water to flow away from the house and into it's own gutter. That will require either lowering the far end, or if that's not a good option, then adding support to  raise the end at the house roof end. 

[azza0712]

Hi Joe The gutter is clean I have checked. thanks looks like the gutter is coping more that what it should be.

[azza0712]

Thanks Ted, it is very poorly designed to lead the rainwater to the house gutter instead of other direction.

I think the easiest way is replace the current gutter to lager gutter to cope the stormwater from both house roofing & polycarbonate roofing.

[JoeAzza]

@azza0712 , are you able to install another downpipe at the other end , this might help remove the volume of water quicker. Goodluck.

[TedBear]

Adding a bigger gutter sounds like a good solution. One option for doing that, if the cosmetics and the layout of that part of the eaves will allow it, is to fit a plastic (to ensure it can be sealed well) downpipe horizontally along the underside of the gutter and connect it to the gutter at various points along the way, especially near the centre of the gutter. That way you essentially have a second gutter, but sitting underneath the original.

Just a thought in case you can't easily accommodate a bigger gutter there.

[MitchellMc]

Sorry to buck the unanimous feedback here, @azza0712, as an overcapacity gutter is the first thing to check. I'd like to see the setup on the roof if you can take a picture. Getting two roofs to feed into a single gutter is tricky, and I'd like to see precisely how they enter it. Although I agree that the gutter could be overwhelmed, I feel it's also worthwhile investigating other potential issues. For that amount of water to overflow, which looks like the entire poly roof's catchment, the gutter would already have to be filled to the brim. If the gutter is filled to the brim, something isn't draining correctly, or these two roofs hugely exceed the gutter's capacity. Provided the gutter is suitable for the house roof span, it should be more than adequate to cope with the additional water catchment of the smaller poly roof.

My money is on that your flashing is inadequate between the poly roof and the gutter or your downpipe is blocked.

Mitchell