Phil L wrote:
Pete Zahut wrote:
TIA

1) why can't you use a ladder?

Bleedin' elf n safely innit!! Mind you, I wouldn't be the one up
there anyway.

2) if you go down the road of hiring cherry-pickers etc and going on
a training course etc, it will cost more than getting someone to do
the job for you.

Oh yes, I've already found that out.

3) what job needs to be done on the gutters?

See my reply to A.Lee at 17.12 :-)

Ah, now I see.

If a builder and a roofer haven't managed to seal the lead, what
makes you think your neighbour can do it?

Nothing to be honest Phil, but we're getting desperate now. It's not my
neighbour who's going to go up there but a mate of mine who I used to work
with on BT. I was a cable jointer on 'locals' but he was a jointer on
'trunks and junctions' and the cables he dealt with were lead covered. He's
very proficient at wiping lead joints on cables but we're also acutely aware
that lead sheeting is a different beast altogether - especially where our
new lead meets our neighbour's old oxidised and fragile lead - but hey,
gotta be worth a go.

Lead is funny stuff, it has a tendency to shrink quite a lot during
cold weather, and if it has been fixed to something, IE nailed to the
bottom row of battens or something similar, it will simply rip itself
from these nails...your neighbour will probably find that it goes
quite a way up behind the first row of slates, but it's unlikely that
this is where the problem lies.
You say it's probably the joint betwen the two houses? - I'd have to
agree as this is a regular occurence and it's caused by using lead
that is too long to begin with - shorter pieces should be used to
prevent it coming apart when it contracts.

I've done a quick jpeg of how it should be done:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2nlv42o&s=7

The pieces covering the wooden 'ridge' should each be no more than 2ft
long - and it should not be done in one piece.

All the other pieces of lead in the gutter should be no more than 6ft
long and they should overlap at least a foot

Thanks very much for that sir, very useful info.