Guttering - connecting square to round

[root]

Two semi-detatched houses. A shared downpipe. One house has the original fitting round guttering, the other has replacement square guttering. The "professional" who installed the square guttering simply laid the end into the existing round outlet, packed some (what looks like) bathroom sealant around it. He then saddled up and rode off into the sunset.

[ Time passes, House gets sold. New people don't know who did the guttering. The seal degrades tot he point where it is completely useless. ]

Now, I know you can get round to square adapters, that will connect a length of round gutter to a square length. However, I've never seen a downpipe outlet with one square side and one round one. So the question is: Can anyone point me in the direction of one?

Plan "B" would be to cut back a short length of the square gutter, install some round stuff coming out of the outlet and then put an adapter between the two types. However, we'd prefer a "proper" fix, rather than this sort of makeshift arrangement,

[sm_jamieson]

its available in other colours. Simon.

[root]

yes, that's "plan B". What I'm hoping for is a running outlet, with one side moulded to take square guttering and the other side with a profile for round guttering.

[Dave Starling]

Some hope. If you take the suggestion of Simon you will have a short offcut of square or round to fit between the running outlet and the other brand. Or you could clean off the sealant and redo with the latest high quality sealant which should last out another 10 years.

What I would say if you go the route of adaptors you will probably waste a day trying to match up the styles of guttering which is not to any known standard. Surely life is too short and who knows if the original bodger was the householder himself? How many times does the average homeowner look up and worry about the state of their guttering. Bodgit and scarper might be your best bet.

Dave.

[Tabby]

yes, that's "plan B". What I'm hoping for is a running outlet, with

If you're really determined, you might reshape the plastic using boiling water, but I wouldnt bother. Another maybe would be to make a plastic adaptor to enable the square gutter to sit in the round downbit, with just the usual rubber strip sealant.

NT

[Nightjar]

Are you any good at copper beating? If so, make your own. If not, go with plan B as it is the only way using off the shelf products.

Colin Bignell

[root]

Well, as the owner of the house with the original gutter, I can attest to the status of the individual who did the new installation. Apart from the lame-brainness of suggesting to the old dear who lived next door, that she should have _square_ guttering when every other house in the street has traditional round, he also tried it on with me. [ story follows ] When the "work" (I use the term in its loosest possible sense) was being done, I got home from work. Shortly after, . Open the door to be confronted by a very, very large bloke who informed me that he was doing some work next door and "did you know your ridge tiles need repointing?". So we wander out and have a chat. Large chap waves hand in general direction of roof and says he noticed it while he was up there, earlier. I'm told that he is going to do next-doors' tomorrow and if I'd like to have mine done at the same time, it'll be Â60, cash. Says I: "I can't see anything wrong" "Ahh, you have to get close to see the problem". At that point I pop back indoors and pull out a pair of

25x100 binoculars. Point them at the indicated ridge tiles and still can't see any difference between the "good" and the "bad" pointing. I tell him I'll leave it for now, thanks. Come the next day, get home from work, point 'noculars at neighbour's ridge and can't see any evidence of work being done. Ask large guy about it as he's packing up and "oh, we didn't have time".

It's not so much about looks, the state of it is now at the point where almost no water goes into the downpipe. When it rains, it all just pours out of the freely flapping loose end of the square guttering. Luckily it is sufficiently far from the house wall that the water doesn't run down the wall itself. Same situation at the back of the houses, where the water pours conveniently onto our conservatory rooves (roofs? suit yourself). That's going to be more interesting to fix, as there's little scope for getting access to the guttering.