Gutter leak & downpipe repairs
A drip is small. The wall it has been running down for a year is not. Both get looked at.
Leaks, drips and downpipes
- Dripping unions, corners and stop ends: new seals or fittings
- Downpipes split by frost, cracked by a ladder or parted at a joint
- Blocked downpipes — cleared from the top, the bottom or a joint in between
- Loose or missing pipe clips, and pipes that have come away from the wall
- Shoes and offsets that throw water at the wall instead of into the gully
- The gully or drain at the bottom, if that is where the blockage turns out to be
What a leak does to a wall
Brick and render are meant to get wet and dry out again. A leaking gutter joint keeps one patch permanently wet, and that is different. The surface grows algae, mortar softens, and in a frost the face of the brick can spall off. Inside, the same patch of wall is cold and damp, and that is where black mould on an inside wall usually comes from.
The repair is almost always the gutter, not the wall. Once the water stops, the wall dries out on its own over a few months.
A green streak.
Algae grows where a wall is kept wet. A green or black stripe down the brickwork under a gutter is a leak above it, and it has been there a while.
Questions about leaks and downpipes
Water comes out of the top of the downpipe in heavy rain. Why?
The pipe or the gully below it is blocked, so water backs up the pipe and out of the top. Clearing the gutter does not fix it; the blockage is lower down. A rod from the top, or opening a joint, usually finds it.
My downpipe has split along its length. Can it be patched?
Not well. A split pipe is usually frost damage — water froze inside it — and a patched pipe splits again. A new length of pipe in the same size and colour is a quick replacement and the right one.
Is a drip from one joint worth fixing?
Yes, because of where it lands. A drip that falls onto a path is a nuisance; one that runs down a wall or lands beside the foundations is the start of damp. It is also one of the cheapest repairs there is.
Other services
PVC gutter repairs — full or part replacements
Repairing PVC guttering where it can be repaired, and replacing a joint, a run or the whole lot where it cannot.
Gutter cleaning service
Clearing leaves, moss and silt so rainwater goes down the pipe and not over the edge.
Roof repairs
Slipped, cracked and missing tiles, ridge and verge pointing, flashing and the leaks they let in.
Moss removal
Taking moss off the roof before it blocks the gutters, holds water against the tiles and lifts them.
Free inspections & quotes
A free look at the roof and gutters, what was found explained, and a quote before any work is agreed.