Help & advice
The things people ring to ask. If yours is not here, ring and ask it.
Guides
Longer answers to the questions that come up most.
Why gutters overflow, and what it does to a house
The four causes of water over the edge, and why the wall underneath is the real cost.
02How often should gutters be cleaned?
Twice a year for most houses. Which houses need more, which can go longer, and how to tell.
03Moss on the roof: why it matters more than it looks
What moss does to tiles and gutters, why some roofs grow it and others do not, and how it should come off.
04Signs of a roof leak, inside and out
What to look for on the ceiling, in the loft and from the garden, and why the leak is rarely where the stain is.
05After a storm: what to check from the ground
A ten-minute walk round the house that finds most storm damage before the next rain does.
06What a roof and gutter inspection covers
The six things that get looked at, and what each one tells you.
The things people ring about
Six signs, what each one usually means, and why none of them gets better on its own.
Water pouring over the edge
A blockage downstream of that point — leaves, moss or silt at the outlet — or a gutter that has lost its fall and holds water instead of carrying it.
A green or dark streak on the wall
Water running down the brickwork from a leaking joint or an overflow above. Left alone, it soaks the wall, and inside that wall is where damp starts.
A gutter sagging or pulling away
Brackets have failed or the fascia behind them has rotted. A sagging gutter holds a bath of water, and the weight makes it worse.
A drip at a joint
The rubber seal in a union has perished or the joint has moved. Small, cheap and the most common gutter repair there is.
Moss sliding into the gutter
Moss on the roof dries, breaks off and washes down in every shower. It fills the gutter, then the downpipe, then the drain.
A slipped or cracked tile
One tile out of place lets rain onto the felt beneath. The felt copes for a while; then the ceiling below shows a brown ring.
Questions people ask
How often should gutters be cleaned?
Twice a year for most houses: once in late autumn after the leaves have come down, and once in spring. A house under trees, or with a mossy roof, often needs more. A house with no trees nearby and a clean roof can sometimes go longer — but the only way to know is to look.
Can a leaking gutter be repaired, or does it need replacing?
Usually repaired. Most leaks on PVC guttering are at a joint, where a rubber seal has perished or the joint has moved, and a new union or seal fixes it. Replacement makes sense when the plastic has gone brittle and chalky with age, when several joints are failing at once, or when the brackets and fascia behind have gone too.
Does moss really damage a roof?
Yes, slowly. Moss holds water against the tile, and in frost that water expands and breaks the tile surface. It also blocks gutters, because every shower washes some of it down. Removing it protects both the tiles and the gutters below them.
Is the inspection really free?
Yes. The inspection and the quote are free. You decide whether to go ahead once you have the quote in front of you.
What is the damp patch on the outside wall under the gutter?
Almost always water from above: a leaking joint, an overflow or a split downpipe running down the brickwork. The wall stays wet, algae grows on it, and the moisture works through to the inside. Fixing the gutter is the repair; the wall then dries out over a few months.
How do I know if a roof tile has slipped?
From the ground, look along the rows of tiles for one that sits lower or out of line with its neighbours, a gap showing dark felt, or a piece of broken tile in the gutter or on the ground. Inside, a brown ring on a ceiling or a damp patch in the loft after rain is the sign it has already let water in.