Getting fed up with (and increasingly not fit to deal with) plastic gutter that parts at the joints after every summer, no matter how hard the clips seem to hold it in place.
Luckily it seems to be the lower sections that seem to move most, so I can at least reach them when fit enough, but is there some sort of non slip brace that can bridge the joints? Could I just drill and wire them or would this crack the plastic when it tried to creep again?
S
I just drill mine and put a stainless steel screw and nut in. Of course there are expansion joints at the ends but the gutter would rather pull apart at the glued joins .
Sounds like it's expanding in the warmer months, and then when the cold comes it's not able to contract and slide as it should - maybe one of the supports toward the end of the run is damaged, misaligned, jammed by dirt etc.?
It can probably be sorted out "properly" - or you can probably get away with screwing it together at the joints where it usually parts, and hopefully force it into behaving properly :-)
cheers
Jules
Thank's Jules,
I'm afraid the guttering was put in by a bunch of roofers who were not exactly the most conscienscious of folk as it turned out, and after an outlay of several thousands to fix the roof up properly a few years back, the whole roof really needs retiling properly 'again'. So, twas they that fixed the gutters, and I count myself lucky that it seems to be just the lower ones where the clip joints just will not stay together.
I've clamped them back with knuckle-breaking force several years in a row now, but come the Autumn, they are always apart again and the joins are conveniently over the front and back doors:-(
I think if Matty has got away with bolts that is probably the way to go, or perhaps another job for my old standby, stainless coathanger wire.
Cheers to you and he,
S
You can't force plastic to do your bidding - it's going to expand and contract whether you like it or not.
The problem usually lies in the length of guttering used - they are often supplied in 4 or 5 metre lengths, IMV this is way too long to be used in one piece as it will contract by up to 100mm if put up in summer and expand by the same amount if put up in winter, what you need is shorter lengths and more joints, thus giving the guttering more space to expand and contract into, so the solution lies in cutting your guttering at 2 or 2.5m intervals and installing extra jointers.
Black and brown guttering is much worse behaved than white due to heat absorption, but white is often a lot more expensive, probably for this reason.
That doesn't sound right, coefficient of expansion for PVC is approx
0.05 mm/m/Cso a 5m length even over a 50C temperature range, would only expand by about 12mm, still got be be allowed for but 4" would be a but difficult to handle.
Tats sounds about right. Problem is that after a few +- 12mm it works its way to one end and falls out!
Good points, thanks Phil. Seems, counter-intuitive, that several short bits don't add up to one long bit as it were!
My old ones were asbestos and painted up a treat with no expansion (only sparrows nests but we don't have sparrows any more!)
S
I think it's not so much the expansion all in one go, but, rather like carpet creep, it moves one way and then doesn't move back, then moves a bit more the next.day etc. And, thinking about it I can now imagine why:
The gutter is clamped down onto the rubber seals, but once it shrinks the rubber will pop up again and stop it moving back when it expands the next day. By which token, fitting in the winter might help.
More to this than meets the eye (as usual :-)
S
Indeed it does - shame I can't sew it down like I did the carpet :-)
S
approx
expand by
The joints should slip and slide along the length, maybe they just need cleaning and smear of silicone grease. While you are at check any intermediate brackets as well, maybe s smear on them as well. The joints shouldn't be installed jamed up tight either but with a bit of gap to allow for movement.
Sounds like it wasnt installed properly. It rarely is IME, I sort loads of it out.
Guttering expands & contracts with temperature change as Jules said.
Inside each joiner or fitting is a mark about halfway in and when its fitted the end of the gutter is supposed to be aligned with that mark. If its pushed right in the gutter can buckle upwards in the heat or if not pushed in enough it will slip out.
Nobody though seems to take acount of the ambient temperature when installing it. For example, if installed on a hot day and not pushed quite up to the mark it can contract enough o come out.
Uncanny that - they always seem to be :-)
You need to check each joint & fitting to make sure all the gutter touches the mark. I've had to add extra lengths to stop it popping.
Find the shortest run & replace that length with a slightly longer piece.
If you bolt it together you are stopping the ability to expand/contract.
I don't doubt you have the figures right, but experience tells me to agree with Phil.
course you can. What is pvc cement for?
Lock one end of a long run and let the other end do the slidey bit.
FFS you could probably cement the whole lot together anyway.
I've done that is some of my pushfit downpipes cos they kept falling apart..
Nah. glue em all up solid and let the support brackets do the slidey bit I say!
All the expansion joints in the gutter that we recently installed had a scale with temperatures on them.
I bolt mine together at the joins that are not supposed to expand/ contract. A joiner about 15 mm wide is glued but the glue doesn't hold.
Never seen that before, what a good idea.
NZ seems to have the edge over GB when it comes to gutters.
That sounds more like it: but then why do they come with these fiddly clips and rubber seals?
S
Here's the start of the gutter installation.
Only ever seen external brackets over here. What do internal look like?
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