How To Prepare Your Gutters For Winter
When the weather turns wet and cold in the winter, your home becomes a refuge - a place where you can stay warm and dry, sheltered from the elements. To ensure this is the case, you should make sure your property is well prepared for winter. Your heating system, doors, windows, chimney if you have one, guttering and drainage all need to be in good working order and ready to take on the British Winter. Here's how to make sure your guttering is up to scratch.
Carry out an Inspection
It seems obvious, but this is a good starting point. Walk around your premises and take a close look at the gutters. Look for any debris sticking out over the gutter line, any signs of leaks. A giveaway sign for a leak is water marks on the outside of the downpipe, usually just below the swan neck (the bend that brings the pipe back to the wall below the eaves). Also splash marks on ground, or drip lines running down the fascia board.
You should also look for sagging corners, broken or missing stop ends, and any broken fascia brackets or downpipe clips.
Repair any leaks
Providing you can safely access your guttering you don't need any specialist skills to repair a leaking PVC gutter. The cause is usually fairly easy to spot and the solution is generally simple. For a more in-depth guide on how to fix a leaking gutter please click here.
Support Sagging Corners or Stopends
Quite often a Gutter Angle or Stop End will collect water and start to sag or drop. This exacerbates the problem, as when it drops it retains even more water, which makes it drop further until it no longer functions correctly. This usually happens when the gutter angle or stop end is unsupported. Make sure that if the angle has fixing lugs, they are correctly screwed to the fascia board, and fit a fascia bracket within 150mm (6”) of either side of the corner. A Stopend should also be supported by a fascia bracket fitted within 150mm of the end of the run.
Clean out the Gutter
Using an old trowel, remove any leaves, moss and dirt that have collected in the guttering during the autumn. By doing this job now you’re are maximising the capacity and flow rate of the gutters, leaving them free to cope with large amounts of rainfall.
Fit Leaf Guards
Leaf guards now come in a number of different styles and designs. A simple grating that fits into the neck of the running outlet costs only a couple of pounds but is invaluable for preventing leaves and moss from being washed into the downpipe and restricting the water flow.
Gutter brushes are also now commonly used. They consist of a central stainless steel spine from which thousands of individual nylon filaments project (picture a giant bottle-brush!). When laid inside the gutter, the water filters through the filaments and drains away normally, leaving the filaments to catch any leaves. The leaves in time dry out and are usually blown away by the wind. Gutter Brushes are available in four metre lengths and are simple and quick to install.
If you leave in an area that is prone to heavy or regular snowfall, you may wish to consider fitting snow guards to your gutters. Snow guard consist of galvanised heavy duty steel mesh that sits above the outside edge of the gutter supported by metal brackets, preventing snow and any possibly loose tiles from slipping down. Snow Guard is particularly useful where there is conservatory or porch installed below the main roof.
Painting Metal Gutters
If your guttering is not made from PVC but is Cast Iron or Painted Steel, is the paint intact? Paint acts as an important protective barrier for metal gutters (particularly Cast Iron) as it prevents the formation of rust and possible structural damage. Cast Iron gutters are long lasting and can be a really eye-catching feature, but to maintain their effectiveness and appearance they should be painted every five years.
