Plastic or Aluminium guttering?

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Plastic or Aluminium guttering?

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OtleyLad

Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 2737
Location: Otley, West Yorkshire

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 6:26 am Post subject: Plastic or Aluminium guttering?
Our ancient guttering is springing big leaks in several places (you can see the holes if you look up). Two questions: 1. Is it possible to repair cast iron guttering? 2. If its not repairable would you replace with aluminium or plastic? Either way we are getting 'a man in' as I get vertigo above 6ft off the ground.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16111

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 6:33 am Post subject:
I don't think it is possible to repair cast iron guttering, but others may have more optimistic views. If you go for plastic, the squared shape is more stable as the half round is inclined to sag and bend. You can get adapters to fit onto either round or squared down pipes.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 7:05 am Post subject:

When you say you can see the holes by looking up,is it really cast iron or half round metal,as the latter tend to rot out when not cleaned out on a regular basis,found at my expense.

The cast tend to leak in the joints as do the older aluminium as the joints were only sealed with putty.

I would imagine aluminium gutters to be a lot more expensive than plastic,are they still available?

The square plastic gutters were used on this house when we had a grant,even with plenty of brackets,they are a pain when getting up on the roof,as they pop out when ladder is placed against even with block of wood in the gutter,the aluminium were stable on the last house.

Dee J

Joined: 22 May 2005
Posts: 342
Location: West Devon

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 7:42 am Post subject:

Best guttering I've found. French Zinc. Brilliant stuff, available in long lengths. A bit of skill to acquire (and a big soldering iron) to do the joins - but a pleasure to fit and looks good with no further finishing.
The main complication is that you have to go and fetch it... but I don't consider a short trip to France to be a negative

'yer tis
https://www.bricodepot.fr/morlaix/materiaux-materiel/gouttieres/gouttieres-en-zinc/

Bon Chance
Dee

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46375
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 9:52 am Post subject:

a wire brush and milliput can sometimes mend small cracks/rust holes

on down pipes wrapping with denso tape and painting over it once the outside has got a bit less sticky will hold for a few years

leaky joints can be fixed with bituminous mastic

best new stuff is metal be it ali or the zinc stuff and in a windy place will outlast plastic many times over

a good tip is to use twice as many brackets as specified for the product as the recommendations often ignore deep wet snow as a challenge

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 12:23 pm Post subject:
I got some cast aluminium from a place in South leeds. Not cheap by I never expect to touch them again. Google yeoman rain guard.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 5:30 pm Post subject:
f cost is not an issue the look at copper. Ali (and copper) can be made on site in long runs with no joins.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15445
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 6:01 pm Post subject:

RichardW wrote:

f cost is not an issue the look at copper.

If people are prepared to go up on roofs to nick lead, they will certainly do it for copper.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8983
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 15 7:06 pm Post subject:
I used aluminium...stronger and longer lasting than the plastic,painted it to match the house woodwork and it matched the profile of the original cast iron. The cast iron had mostly been replaced by plastic guttering and pipes less than ten years before and that was falling apart....

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