Concrete guttering.

Johnwakeman68

Hello, I live in a house built in the 50s and it has concrete guttering on all sides, this has been fine for the 8 years since i brought the property but now it has started to leak, Ive done some research and found out it is no longer replaced and that plastic would be more reliable, Therefore id like a full replacement if the price is right, Does anyone know what sort of price im looking at? and also can anyone who has had their own gutters replaced can anyone reccomend a company?

thanks.

SailorSam

I think that could end up as a difficult job.
Could you just put up new guttering, i'm trying to picture how the rain may come off the roof. I think you're going to get someone to remove the old concrete stuff but that may be built into the building.
These people who come around dropping leaflets to get you to buy plastic facia and gutter probably only want the easy jobs.

Johnwakeman68

Done a bit of research, It seems it will be a big job and only certain companys offer to remove the entire concrete guttering and put up PVC, Currently in the process of getting two quotes from the 2 biggest companys in the UK so ill have to see how that goes.

Johnwakeman68

Ok so i have been given 2 quotes, One from a company called concrete gutter replacements ltd for £2800, one from trent valley fascias for £4200, now obviously the £2800 quote is the one im looking at but does anyone have any experience with either company?

WestonDave

You may find a cheaper solution is to get the existing guttering lined either with UPVC or even a bitumen type coating. We had this guttering in our old house and a lot of the neighbours had them clad and lined so they looked and worked better but the structure was retained. In our case they were part of the wall so removing them would have been very hard work. This is a site I found at random - http://www.mwroofline.co.uk/services/concrete-gutter-lining/

Vintageryan

If your guttering is still in good shape and its a leak issue it would be cheaper to just get it re-lined.


If you do get it replaced be warned its a mine field.


I am sure that Concrete gutter replacements have been on rogue traders and that other firm once joined MSE and wrote a fake review see this thread for more details


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/447466

philbostavros

I believe these are called Finlock guttering. My son's early 60's semi in East Kent has it and when he first moved in, he had a bit of a leak above one bedroom window after a heavy rainstorm.

I found that the gutters were quite heavily obstructed by lichen etc, plus the downspout spigot was clogged. We gave everything a good clear out and I replaced the rear metal drainpipe with plastic. We got a large tin of sealer (sorry, can't remember the name but it was a light grey sort of bitumen sealer, recommended by a local roofing supplies company - quite expensive), brushed it on and also went round with a mastic sealer on the small gap between the concrete and brick joins.
(used a concrete frame sealant, rather than silicon type).

It's been okay since (4 years) but we do keep a regular check to keep clear (one of the problems with Finlock is that if it gets blocked, water can run back in towards the house, whereas conventional gutters just run down the facias?).

One of the nearby neighbours have had theirs replaced recently. The builders (via scaffolding) cut back the concrete to the brickwork line (think they drilled loads of holes and then used diamond blade cutter), extended the roof timbers and fitted upvc fascias, soffits and guttering. Looks like a nice job but not found out the price yet. Will post on here if we find out.

Phil

rooflover

We completed a roofing spray foam job that also included removing the existing concrete guttering and replacing it with plastic. You will need to make sure they include the cost of scaffolding and skips etc. if I recall our roofing team carefully cut them off with a disc cutter - it was quite a job. Make sure whoever you use complete a risk assessment and use the correct access equipment. The final result was perfect and looked really good.

force_ten

finlock guttering can be a nightmare and be very very careful who you get to do the work removing it

have a look around the estate and see who has had their gutters replaced and go and ask them who did the work and are they happy with the results

the cheaper quote you had would worry me and i would look at finding out a lot more about the company before accepting the quote

ask them for names and address of local jobs that they have done and go and knock doors and ask questions before taking the plunge