Futher to the neighbours gutter and a question?

Water finds its own level & always flows downhill.

The ridge must therefore be the same height as the end of the tiles?

If the gutter is full of water its either perfectly level (unlikely) or blocked. A ridge would only slow down the flow & leave water the same height as the ridge itself.

Surely the ridge alone wouldn't cause that level of water. Maybe the roofer left his flask up there

Water will hold in all gutters, whether they are made of brand new plastic and set at the correct downwards angle, or made of sandstone and dead level, either way, the fact that it's holding water is immaterial - it must have been holding water since it was built, given that they have merely lined it with lead.

As far as your (long) story about the piece of bitumen over the joint is concerned, the new roofers have done it correctly - the bitumen was a bodge.

Well it certainly can't flow uphill. :-) it finds its level and whats left up there cannot get past because of the join hump.

That depends on whether the lead is sitting flush with the gutter and if its not then there a rise near the join?

Never measured but at a guess the water is about 1/2" deep at the join and shallower near the other end of the gutter.

Would this amount of rainwater be accetable to you? pic 'b' is the ridge join between two gutters.

So why isn't there any rainwater in my gutter and the other neighbour next to me philip?

I find myself asking what would happen in a hard frost with that much water there? Wouldn't be too sure the results would be good.

No problem at all. Its not constrained. so it will do no damage.

Remember gutters are not there to COLLECT water. They are there to get rid of it to avoid it soaking the edge/wall of the building. Whether they store some locally, or dump it into a soakaway, is irrelevant.

They only have to not leak wayer into the structure, and not spill it over the edge to form a driving patch of wet on a wall that can soak it too much.

Because its got a tad more fall on it, and no obstructions. So what?

The gutter is flowing towards the joint.

The new lead therefore has to go over the old lead, as it clearly does from your photo - it can't go underneath it, which would eliminate this unsighlty joint, but would have the rather serious knock on effect of delivering all the rainwater under your lead

Well there's rainwater in at least one of them George because it's clearly visible in your photos.

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

Water stored in gutters leads to problems with algal growth and collected leaves.

Was this always a lead gutter or is it a bodge where sheet lead has been used rather than replacing cast iron?

regards

The water appears to have soaked into the tiles at the bottom. I wonder what a good hard frost would do? (nothing here BTW we don't have winters any more...)

Andy

Don't know about acceptable (to whom?) but that amount of water certainly isn't unusual in the gutters I see on a regular basis.

IME gutters rarely have the correct fall on them and usually have a flat length where water collects.

As long as it doesn't overflow in heavy rain it doesn't matter. Pour a complete bucket full of water in as fast as you can & see what happens.

The full story or what I know.

Sandstone guttering,so they has to be lined with lead.

Oh hah bloody ha.

Alga growth does no harm and leaves will be there whether there is water in or not. Until the wind blows em out or the next water wahes them out.

Fer *** sake, you dont make iron gutters like that.

Its a classic cast in stone gutter and parapet.

You lead line em.

If you butt or solder the lead together it pulls part in the cold Or buckles in the sun. If you lap them together the water creeps underneath,. Experince has lead to a simple technique. You fold the lead a bit like rolling up a toothpast tube and mash it down., This doesn't leak, wont split when the lead shrinks, and is waterproof. It always leaves a slight ridge. All lead gutters end up with puddles if they are essentially level. Think of them as moats, with drains.

That is how it SHOULD BE DONE. You will note that the one place it COULD leak - the joint, is now higher than the puddle..

If you use continuous lengths of lead it will buckle in the heat, and then split in the frost..and the only way to join it is with a *folded* lap joint.

Standing water alwtys happens somewhere in guttering. As does any amount of organic trash washed off the roof. Just clear em out every year or so after the leaves and gales have finished..

And there lies a problem. If blown leaves don't dry and blow out they rot providing a feedstock for the algae and gradually taking up space in the gutter. If they are washed down into a soak-away they plug the spaces and eventually block the pipe. Regular gutter cleaning is the obvious answer.

OK. Stone gutters are a bit like hen's teeth in my part of the world:-)

OK again. From the photo, this does not look to have been done very well. BS 5502 agricultural buildings can have *eves beam* gutters where a rectangular section galvanised trough supports the edge of the roof and catches the water. Because the building is level, there is no fall to the gutter leading to the problems I described. None of this helps the OP.

regards