Gutter Ripped Off by Snow

ossian

Hi,

We've had heavy snowfalls in the rural valley that I live in and it tends to come off my roof in noisy avalanches. Unfortunately one avalanche took the a length of gutter off. I've never had to repair damage like this, any advice on how to go about it?

Would metal gutters stay on better than uPVC?

Cheers,
Ossian

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

We've had the same thing happen and some of the neighbours too.
Our plastic gutter at the back is wrecked and the cast iron at the front has come away with the weight.
I'm considering replacing all my guttering with plastic as it must be easier and cheaper to replace and less dangerous when it falls off.
Can't do anything yet though.too much snow.

Al1x

I would go for plastic gutters as well.

latecomer

Cast iron weighs a lot and I wouldn't like to be near it if it came down. that said its normaly held on with metal brackets instead of the plastic thats used with the plastic guttering.

ossian

who replaces gutters? A roofing company?

latecomer

yeah roofers are normally a good bet

vegasvisitor

We've just had out cast iron ones replaced with plastic, and I feel they are more 'fragile' now.

That said, I think if metal ones came off they would cause more damage, could take drainpipes etc with them, and also cause damage when they hit the ground or whatever is below them.

Plastic is cheaper, lower maintenance, cheaper to maintain and much easier to fix.

We got a roofer to do ours, we got our soffit done in upvc too, and also got the wood replaced with UPVC around our dormer windows. It was quite a big job (£1700), but we got much more than just new gutters, and it's a detatched bungalow so may have a bit more than average.

mttylad

I live in an 1855 built terrace house so our gutters were wooden.

I replaced them with plastic ones. They look the same and apart from occasional cleaning I will never need to paint or replace them.

savemoney

We have cast iron gutters and they are pretty heavy and firm on there brackets

Cast iron do need maintenance if you want them to last obvious painting on outside but also inside with bitumen paint every couple of years

My next door neighbour have plastic guttering and they look really nice I dont think they the cheap ones I often see that bend and buckle. They do how ever creek when its warms when they expand

jjww_2

my dad in law runs a property maintenance company and has been inundated with calls about broken guttering. He just added a hints and tips bit to his website about making sure guttering brackets have not perished and that the company who put the guttering up used enough brackets in the first place. If you have cast iron guttering he advises you have it checked over once a year while having your gutters cleaned then you know it will withstand the winter.

I have 5 year old plastic gutters and have had no problem but have seen loads of people with broken guttering due to the snow. I think the pitch of your roof has a lot to do with it when my mam got her new conservatory she had to have snow boards installed on the roof because it has a very steep pitch.