How to fix a upvc conservatory frame to a cill

[Tony68k]

Hi. Got a second hand wickes conservatory, without the original cill. It's a full height upvc one. Each panel has a bottom upvc section and a top glazed section.

I need to fix this to a new cill, but can't figure out how I can do this. There's nothing to remove so I can't screw them together like you would a normal upvc window, so I need to attach them securely using other means.

Any advise on how I can do this? There looks to be a few small clips that might go into some mechanism on the original cill to hold things in place, but without the original cill I'm a little lost. I haven't bough the replacement cill yet, I'm assuming these are mostly standard items. Worried if I just glue things together it won't be strong enough and I'll block any drainage mechanism.

 

[Gazman16]

Take the panels out and screw down through the frame near the inside edge, Drainage is in the out side section. 60mm screw is normally the way to go depending on the frame thickness.

Also make sure you silicone the cills before putting the frame on, Back edge and the ends of the windows.

You may want to post a pic of the clips you mentioned.

 

[Tony68k]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think the panels remove, and there's no existing screw holes implying that this is how they were originally fixed.

The clips are probably a red-herring, I've checked again and they don't extend enough to clip onto anything, I think they are more like 'legs' to give things a little more support. They are like 20mm long, screw into the side of the frames and extend into a small t shape. But they don't protrude more than the base of the frames.

The base of frame have some sponge gasket type rubber attached to them, as if they were just sat in the original cills with just this gasket. I wonder if the original cills were custom made of these frames..

 

[Gazman16]

Odd. Post a pic and Im sure someone here will have come across it before

 

[Tony68k]

Here's a photo showing the side, with the metal strip and the odd clip I noted, and the base with the sponge rubber seal falling off.

There are no screw holes in the bottom, and I can' tree a way to remove the bottom plastic panel so I don't think it was screwed down.

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• Tony68k
• 4 May 2015
• 1

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[Gazman16]

The panel should be removable the same way as glass is by removing the beads (a gasket may need removing first but I cant see the panel area from the pic).

One of the reasons this conservatory may been taken down may well be problems because they never screwed the frames to the cills .

Odd metal brackets, Cant say Ive seen any quite like that before.

You could try to google some conservatory fixing guides, Loads available online like this http://www.k2conservatories.co.uk/downloads?view=category&id=8.

It would help if you knew the make of your one so you could find the specific one, There may be some marking printed on the frames somewhere (possibly inside one of the opening windows). To be honest knowing the cheap rubbish that Wicks sell its probably from an old company who no longer trade but you may get lucky and find some instructions online.

 

[Gazman16]

Looking at it again I think I have come across those brackets before (10-15 years ago). I cant remember what their meant to do exactly but Im pretty sure I thought they were a terrible design back then and just binned them.

 

[Tony68k]

Thanks Gazman, I will try and remove a panel and that will makes things easier.

I've just have found another conservatory on the net where the frame 'clicks' into a special cill, which makes me suspect this is how this one was fitted. Wickes have told me who the original manufacturer might be and they are sending me some instructions so fingers crossed for this too. As it's 10+ years old I suspect it's not the manufacturer who they think it is though.

Yes, you're right, it's a cheap design, but it will serve my purposes and really looked good before it was dismantled. Due to illness I could not do that myself and couldn't even watch it being took down, hence the situation I'm in now trying to work out how everythig goes back together!

 

[Gazman16]

Second hand I'm sure it was a bargain that was well worth the price you paid but as a general rule I wouldn't pay the prices they charge for new windows and doors. In the trade we pay about the same or less for 10x the quality.

Have you sourced some cills yet? And will you be getting made to measure cills with welded corners? Eurocell are good and they probably have a branch near you that you could visit.

If you just buy lengths of cill with corner joiners go crazy with the silicone! A leaking corner is a nightmare to fix later down the line.

If your frames are internally beaded it should just be a case of getting a thin scraper in behind the beads and prizing them out. If they are externally beaded there will likely be a rubber wedge gasket around the inside that you will need to pull out first.

 

[Tony68k]

Ah, think I've sussed it. It's externally beaded, the section I tried came out very easily and the gasket is attached to the beading. It looks like I'll be able to get a screw in there to hold it onto the cill with no problem.

I was planning to buy a cill and join it myself as I'm not sure of the exact size I need and this will be my template for the concrete slab it's going to sit on. I aim to put the side panels together in the back yard as a 'dry-run' to get everything measured up correctly.