On Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:11:51 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , root
writes
On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:35:43 +0100, Frank Erskine wrote:
On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:00:32 +0000 (UTC), root
wrote:

Breifly, the next-door neighbour has plastic, square guttering on their side
of the two semi's. We have the original round guttering which feeds a
cast iron
outlet into the downpipe. The gutter leaks badly where the square and round
types meet.
It turns out that while the new guttering does actually have a square-round
adapter, this has merely been placed into the downpipe's outlet with
no sealant
or physical attachment - it just flaps around in the wind and rain.

While up t' laddter today I decided to see what remedies were possible. The
round outlet has two screw-holes in its base. The side that goes to the half-
round guttering is screwed onto the outlet, the side that goes to the adapter
isn't - it's just loose. This appears to be because of a mismatch in the
"systems": modern outlets have a rubber seal to make a watertight joint, the
original cast iron outlet expects the guttering to be screw in and doesn't
have a gasket.

Look at this from a pragmatic POV. Your neighbour relies on _your_
downpipe so he should ensure that _his_ guttering arrangement is
compatible with _yours_, especially as yours is the original.

Perhaps the NDN could contribute to the maintenance (e.g. painting;
unblocking) of the "common" parts of the arrangement.

I have a similar setup, but have (yet) had no complications.

Yes, that's always been my position - however for the 5 years or so that
this has been ongoing, no progress to my gentle hints has resulted in
action. I'm well past the point of "principles" and who's responsibility
this is - I'm in a position to fix it as I've been clearing the back gutter
and am now starting on the front one - and if that's what the neigbours
have been waiting for then fine - they win, big deal! It doesn't matter.

The problem has always been that since a previous occupier, not
the current one, was persuaded to replace their perfectly good gutters
with something that was (a) unsuitable and (b) poorly installed every
bout of heavy rain has seen rainwater pouring out of this connection.

To take your pragmatic view, for the sake of half an hour up a ladder I
should be able to seal the "joint" and make it more permanent with a
screw to keep it all in place. I'm under no illusions that a squirt of
mastic will provide a permanent solution, hence the need for mechanical
fixings.

Fortunately the existing outlet was made with a screw-hole for what looks
like a 1/4 inch (yes, it's 50 years old) CSK, which is what's keeping my
side of the gutter conencted to the outlet.

Presumably, the original installers did not have any half round plastic
to do a decent bodge.

Hmmm, that would be the generous and charitable explanation :0
On the evening after the first day spent fixing their new gutter + soffits, I
got a knock from their builder who said
"While I was up on the roof, I noticed some of your ridge tiles need repointing.
Since I've got the equipment, I can do it for you tomorrow for £60"
OK, says I, "Let's have a look" (pulls out Hubble-sized binoculars and trains
them on ridge. )
Needless to say, when questioned the next evening, the guy "didn't have time"
to do the repointing ...

Why not shorten your neighbours gutter back a few inches, refit the
adapter and scrounge a short length of half round plastic gutter to mate
with your running outlet?

Not the nicest job at the top of a ladder but you can drill cast iron.
If you scrounge the ribbed rubber strip from a gutter joint and use
stainless fixings you should get a long lasting seal.

On scrounging... I have all those parts to hand:-)

It sounds like your bits box is far superior to mine. I'm just considering this
as an opportunistic fix - not something I want to turn into a project. So I'll
probably use whatever I can get my hands on. If it lasts a year or two, that's
better than what's there now (and you never know, the neighbours might get round
to sorting out a permanent fix). I don't want to go cutting their gutters as
then I'll "own" the problem and it'll always be my fault ...