The guttering is 30 years old - OSMA roundline. Some of the joints leak - even after replacing rubber seals.
How long does guttering normally last? Is square section better than round? What is the best quality guttering? Any hints and tips?
On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 11:50:55 +0100, Chris had this to say:
Round is probably better than square inasmuch as in light rainfall the narrower "channel" of water will travel at a greater velocity, and hence flush out any sludge better.
so get some gloop in there
NT
Put a second rubber seal in the joint. It must be really tight on the clips at the top of the gutter connectors, By the way. A squirt of WD40 on the plastic round the clips makes assembly/dissasembly a doddle.
Depends on the make and colour. Osma made 30 years ago was made of good quality PVC. Others I wont mention were made of crap. I have just renewed some I fitted 30 years ago when I worked for them (Osma). Not in bad condition except I wanted to change to white Square.
Technically half round is easier to joint than square but in practice not much difference.
Most are pretty good now but avoid brown/darker colours if you can. Affected badly by UV Light.
Assemble using WD40.
Dont put gloop in. The expansion/contraction will split it in short time.
Plastic guttering will leak at the joints after a few years.
Many years ago, I had seamless aluminium gutters fitted to my house - and have never looked back. Virtually maintenance free, and clean up as good as new.
In case you haven't seen it, it is supplied to the fitters as a roll of flat powder-coated aluminium strip. The fitters have a machine in the back of their van which 'extrudes' it as ogee (squarish cross section) gutter in whatever lengths are required. End pieces, and bosses for downpipes are then riveted in, and sealed - and Bob's your uncle! It's available in several colours including black, white and brown.
Not a DIY job, of course, but it outlasts plastic rubbish many times over.
It must mean the clips have weakened - they are normally quite hard work to fasten. Not surprising as all PVC seems to deteriorate with age. So I'd guess the answer is to replace the jointing parts.
In article , Roger Mills writes
What about expansion and contraction?
What about it? Never caused any problems so far as I am aware. The guttering is held up by 'clip-in' brackets - which are screwed to the fascia board. So I suppose that the guttering can slide longitudinally on the brackets if necessary.
How does plastic guttering cope with expansion and contraction?
In article , Roger Mills writes
It comes in sections a few feet long - and they meet at a bracket where there is a rubber seal. The guttering pieces are about half-an-inch apart on top of the said seal, and slide on top of it.
According to my calculations, a 10 metre long aluminium section will change in length by less than 1cm when subjected to a 40 degC temperature range. Aluminium guttering should be able to slide on its brackets by that amount without too much of a problem. I've not had any probs with mine anyway in 15 years or so.
What about from -10 to +60, which is more like it for (black) guttering that is exposed to the sun...
In that case, the change is perhaps 17mm rather than 10 - but still not very much in absolute terms. And that ignores any expansion of the house itself - which would reduce the amount by which the gutter needs to slide.
Why do people think that this is an issue? Does anyone have any evidence of any problems caused by the expansion of aluminium gutters - or is it just a case of "not invented here"?!
Dunno, but I've seen plastic guttering pull apart in the cold before now.
And creak madly every morning as it warmed up.
Iron and steel guttering was BOLTED TOGETHER.
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