harry grunted in
:

On Tuesday, 5 September 2017 13:14:05 UTC+1, Celebration wrote:
replying to Lobster, Celebration wrote:
So Lobster, interested in how this story ended: what did you did and
are you happy with the result?
I'm in a similar position, two front drainpipes in need of TLC but
the local tradesmen just want to rip them all out and replace with
plastic (although I know cast-iron effect is an option, it feels like
an act of cultural vandalism on an 1880s house!) I need to act
swiftly as scaffolding is due to come down at the end of the week!

2014???!!!

But Lobster's still alive and kicking though...

God was that three years ago? At the time I needed an instant solution
to stop the damp, and just sleeved the cracked pipe with a small strip of
heavy-duty (green!) polythene sheeting to stop the water getting to the
house wall, with a view to sorting it out properly when the warmer, drier
weather arrived. But guess what - I'm embarrassed to say that three
summers later it's STILL there! One day I'll get round to it

One tip you might want to consider... we had an extension built on our
house about 15 years ago, and were very keen to make the old and new
match up. The builder ended up nicking some of the old cast-iron
guttering from the back of the house (replacing it with similar-looking
plastic stuff), and using it on the front of the house to extend the
original guttering seamlessly on to the extension. Might be something
worth considering if you have drainpipes round the back which are in
better nick?

David