What a failing gutter actually costs you
Not much, if you catch it. A great deal, if you do not. Water going over the front edge of a gutter lands on the ground and splashes back onto the bottom metre of wall. Water going over the back edge - which is what happens when a gutter is blocked or hung slightly wrong - runs down inside the wall, behind the render, into the wall plate and the ends of the rafters.
That is the expensive version, because by the time it shows up inside the house you are not looking at a gutter job any more, you are looking at replacing timber at the eaves with the tiles off. All of which is a long way of saying that a ladder and half an hour in November is very good value.
How to tell from the ground
Look at the wall, not the gutter. A vertical dark streak under a joint means it is dripping. A wide dark band along the top of the wall means it is going over the back. Green algae down the brickwork under one spot means it has been doing it for a while. And in a heavy shower, stand and watch it - a gutter that works is boring to look at, which is the point.
Falls, brackets and the things that go wrong
A gutter needs to drop steadily towards the outlet, and it needs enough brackets to stop it sagging between them. Most of the bad installs I take down failed on one of those two counts. A sag in the middle of a run turns into a permanent puddle, the puddle collects silt, the silt grows moss, and the moss blocks the outlet - a slow-motion process that takes about four years from new.
Joints are the other one. uPVC expands and contracts a surprising amount across a hot day, and a union pushed hard up against the pipe with nowhere to move will pop its seal. There are marks moulded into the fittings showing how much gap to leave. They get ignored constantly.
Worth knowing before you agree to a full replacement
- Ask whether the fascia is actually rotten or just looks tired. Paint and a couple of repairs is sometimes the honest answer.
- Check that ventilation is being kept. Boxing in the eaves with solid soffit and no vents is how lofts start growing mould.
- On a terrace, gutters usually run through to next door. Work out where yours ends before anyone starts cutting.
- If the roof has no felt at the eaves, replacing the fascia is the moment to fit an eaves protector tray. It is cheap while everything is off.
Leaves, gulls and estuary silt
Gutters here collect a slightly different mix to gutters inland. Along the front there is much less leaf litter and a lot more of everything else - wind-blown grit off the beach, moss that thrives in mild damp winters, and the contribution of a substantial gull population, which is no joke once it reaches the outlets and hoppers.
Set back from the seafront, towards Herne and Broomfield, it flips and becomes an ordinary leaf problem. Either way, the fix is the same: get them cleared before winter, and be sceptical of the gutter guards and brush inserts sold to end the problem for good. Most of them just move the blockage somewhere you cannot see it.