Gutters overflowing

[Harry Bloomfield]

Whilst I dry off...

Semi, with a shared down pipe all new within the last few years, both front and rear. I cleaned out our gutters earlier this week. This afternoon, we were hit by the thunderstorms and the gutter at the rear filled up and we had an almost wall of water down the rear of both halves of the semi. The front was fine. I checked at the bottom where it discharged into the drain, during the worst of it and there was some flow, but not as much as I would have expected at the rear. The weather was hitting the rear slightly more than the front.

Neighbour's gutter slope to the down pipe is rather excessive, put up by 'professionals'persistent, ours was DIY and set accurately to recommendations. I checked the pipe and it was clear, when I did the gutter cleaning, but I will be checking it again...

Might the poor flow via the down pipe, have been due to the two heavy flows of water clashing in the middle at the down pipe, rather than due to any blockage?

The over- spilling gutter, completely flooded the back garden.

Just thinking aloud! Its been the heaviest and most persistant downfall I've seen in the last 30 years.

[The Medway Handyman]

Do you have one of those water diverters for filling a butt by any chance?

Might be the excess volume of water caused the excessive slope next door.

[Harry Bloomfield]

The Medway Handyman explained on 08/08/2014 :

No, nothing like that, just a dog-leg from gutter into the wall, then a spout at the bottom.

That's what I was thinking - the clash of the two flows at the down pipe, preventing either from being able to go down.

[harryagain]

AGW yer see? :-)

Guttering is not sized to meet cloudburst conditions. It is possible your roof is too big for the gutter if this occurs in "normal" rain. There are bigger gutters available, the semi-circular 100mm stuff we mostly get nowadays is just cheap to make s**te really. The big problem occurs where there are valleys on the rood structure.

[Brian Gaff]

Well some time ago I had a new downpipe fitted near a corner where the water always overflowed and that solved it, so often its not that things are blocked, just that the flow is far too high before it gets to a downpipe. Brian

[ARW]

You probably got the downpour at around 4pm (and another later at 5.30pm). I was in Bardsey not far from you at the time. The rain caused the overflowing of the gutters of the extension I was working on and several other neighbours also got localised flooding.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield expressed precisely :

Well, it turned out to be the down pipe almost choked with moss, from next doors uncleared gutter. All now cleaned and flushed.

[Bob H]

Last night we had a torrential rain, and we also had a wall of water overflowing from out deepflow guttering. It was just the sheer amount of water which caused that as I keep my gutters as clean and free from debris as I can.

[bert]

It's usually sycamore seeds from neighbours tree that form an impervious blockage in mine.

[Robert]

I'd blame the good weather, it seems to dry roof moss right out and the first good rainfall will wash significant amounts off the roof and block nicely cleaned out gutters and downpipes.

[fred]

I've used gutter guards to keep some at-risk ones clear but that doesn't help the o/p's position though as it is his neighbour causing the problem.

[1]

I was going to suggest one of those inverted colander type caps for the downpipe, hopefully it will keep the pipe clear and any dam of refuse will only block the neighbour's side.

[1] absolutely no instructions come with, the tabs fold under to provide some sort of support on the inside of the gutter. It looks as if it wont stay put for 2 mins but it does. Each piece interlocks with the next.

[Andy Burns]

I've certainly seen lots of dried lichen/moss that's fallen from my roof this year.

I had fitted them to my downpipes, but found they made they made it more likely to block, rather than less likely.

[tony sayer]

Same here, seems very noticeable so up the bl^^dy ladders again;!...

[The Natural Philosopher]

+1

Only 'filter' I run with is gratings at ground level where I can easily clean em

[fred]

I was wondering if a combination of gutter guards and colander would safeguard the o/p's side leaving the neighbour's side to block and back up on its own.

[Capitol]

We need to go back to coal fired power stations, the sulphur content kept the moss under control.

[Rick Hughes]

That is what does it on my gutters ... I have balloon grills to stop them going down the downpipe ... but eventually they block the grills.

[Dave Liquorice]

So why clean the gutters before the weather breaks when you know that they'll get blocked when it does?

[The Medway Handyman]

Thats also my experience.

[charles]

true, but much easier to clear when the rubbish in in the gutter rather than at an unknown point in the downpipe.