Gutters and goo

Just having a new roof (not diy sadly!) and the scaffolders came yesterday, so I couldn't resist hopping up to take a proper look (actually, I had to because they had disconnected a downpipe !) Now, I was planning to exploit the scaffolding to replace the guttering once the roof is done and have been cogitating on whether to use round or square. I had sort of decided to use round as, although it doesn't look as good, the idea that flows are faster than in a flat bottom and so flush the silt out sounds compelling. My roof has quite a shallow pitch, so tends to form moss, so that may be more of an issue than silt.

Anyway.....Once I got up there, my existing round guttering was absolutely chocka with goo, moss and silt while my neighbour's, which is a square jobbie, was completely clear. Since they were both last cleaned out at the same time (couple of years ago) this seems completely against the theory.

Does anyone else have a similar comparison? I guess her gutter might have a better fall in it than mine (although there's precious little space for either) but I wonder if, somehow, moss and silt behave differently in the two different profiles.

Reply to
GMM
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Is her roof facing in the same direction (N, S, E, W, etc), along the front/back of a terrace, or is her's in the opposite direction? Could make a difference to the amount of rain and/or moss on her roof.

Also, is the roof made of the same material? If yours is shedding lots of grit, but all that comes of hers is water, that would make a difference?

Reply to
Martin Bonner

Both houses are parallel and face south east at the back and north west at the front. THere are no trees overhanging either and we have similar amounts of moss on each roof. The roofer tells me that the moss is the result of having sanded tiles on a shallow pitch and they're about to be replaced with smooth tiles (not for the moss, but because they've begun to crumble and leak). So for all practical purposes, the two houses are identical, the only differences that I can discern being the profile of the gutter and yet the outcome seems to be the opposite of what may be expected. As far as I'm concerned, it's fine, as it indicates that the square gutter (which suits the house better) is not such a bad thing, although Sod's Law might come into play once the tiles have been replaced and the moss is no longer a serious problem.

Reply to
GMM

Is hers set at a steeper angle relative to the ground and thus giving a faster flow?

Reply to
David

They look about the same to me: There's next to no space for a serious fall on these houses, so neither of them is very steep.

Reply to
GMM

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