INSTALL GUTTERING

Care is needed in setting out the guttering accurately, but

actually fitting it is relatively easy.

Before you climb a ladder, make sure it is stable and fixed

securely to the structure of the house. Don't allow children
to play under ladders or scaffold towers.

Changing your own guttering can be a simple and

straightforward exercise when you have the right products
and you know how to select the few simple tools required

Two sizes of guttering cover most domestic situations:

• 75mm half-round gutters and 50mm circular

downpipes for sheds, greenhouses and small
detached garages.
• 112mm half-round gutters and 68mm circular
downpipe for houses and large detached garages.

If you live in a large house or in an area of high rainfall, you

may need a gutter which has a greater capacity - either 116
x 60mm 'square' guttering (used with 65mm square
downpipe) or 120 x 75mm 'ogee' guttering (used with
square or round downpipe).

2 - Planning the work

Whether you are planning to replace the entire guttering on a
house, or just one side of a garden shed, following these few
simple tips will make the job much easier.

Make a sketch plan of the house or outbuilding, and write down

all the relevant dimensions. Work in metric units as this is how
guttering is sold.

If you have difficulty measuring the height of a house, simply

count the number of brick courses from the ground to the eaves
and divide the answer by 13 to get the length of downpipe you
need in metres.

Work out the lengths of guttering and downpipe you need

(different standard lengths of both are available), and fill in a
checklist for the necessary components (1).
Some gutter fittings (for example, union clips) need to be fitted
with a separate strap to make the joint between the fitting and
the gutter (these should be fitted before you start); other types
have integral straps.

Fascia brackets should be placed no more then 1m apart;

stopend outlets, running outlets, union clips, angles and
stopends need a supporting fascia bracket within 150mm of the
fitting. Some running outlets, union clips and stopend outlets
are designed to be screwed directly to the fascia, but also
require support brackets within 150mm.

Some 'ogee' guttering fittings are 'handed' - for internal or

external corners or to fit on to the left- or right-hand end of the
gutter.

Always over-estimate when ordering. It is better to have too

much rather than too little.

3 - Remove the old guttering

Unless you are fitting guttering to a new building, you will
need to remove the old guttering. Old plastic guttering is
simple to remove, but you should take great care with cast-
iron guttering as it is extremely heavy, and can have sharp
edges. Wear stout gloves to handle it and lower it to the
ground with a rope.

If the screws holding the old gutter or gutter brackets to the

fascia have rusted in place, saw through them with a padsaw
fitted with a thin metal-cutting blade. To remove brackets
secured to the rafters, you may need to lift the edge of the
roof covering.

If the bolts holding cast iron

guttering together are rusted
in place, saw them off with a
hacksaw (2).

Take the opportunity to

refurbish the existing fascia
board, filling all screw holes,
stripping off flaking paint and
re-painting or re-staining as required.

4 - Fitting the outlet and brackets

Start by fitting the outlet
(running outlet in the middle
of a gutter run, stopend
outlet at the end of a run)
directly over the drain
position - use a plumbline to
check this (3).

Using 25mm x 5mm (1in x

No. 10) screws, fix the outlet
to the fascia, allowing for the
fact that the far end of the
gutter must be higher than
the outlet by 10mm for every
6m of gutter (a fall of 1:600).

Now fit the end fascia bracket furthest away from the outlet,
allowing for the required 1:600 fall. Check that the fascia
board itself is level (it should be) and then use this as a
reference line to position the bracket. Repeat with the other
end fascia bracket if the outlet is in the middle of the gutter.
 Tie a string line tightly from
the end fascia bracket(s) to
the outlet and use this as a
guide for installing the
remaining fascia brackets,
which should be placed no
more than 1m apart, working
outwards from the outlet.
Screw each bracket to the
fascia with two or three
screws (4).

5 - Installing the gutter

Once all the brackets are in place, you can install the main
guttering.

Push the first gutter length

into the outlet and then clip it
into its fascia brackets. This
is done most easily by tilting
the gutter to fit under the
back clip and then
straightening it under the
front clip. To allow for
expansion in hot weather,
care should be taken to
ensure the gutter end is in
line with the insertion depth
mark (5).

All fittings provide for expansion and contraction of the

gutter. When installing the gutter, make sure it does not go
past the insertion depth mark in the fitting.

Use a union clip to join the first and second lengths. The
joint is made by clipping the two ends into the union clip,
which is also secured to the fascia with a single screw (5).

At a corner, hold a 90º angle

(or 45º angle for a bay) in
place to mark where the
gutter is to be cut before you
fit the angle (6).

Cut the last length of gutter

to the correct size. At the end
of the gutter run, fit an
external stopend, clipped in
place in the same way as
outlets, angles and unions. If
the new guttering has to join
up with an existing gutter, fit
the appropriate ogee or half-
round adaptor.
6 - Fitting the downpipe
The distance between the
gutter and the wall is bridged
by an offset. This consists of
two 67.5º offset bends and
an appropriate offcut of
downpipe cut to size (7),
(with 65mm square
downpipe, a ready-made
50mm offset is available).
The offset bends can be
push-fit or solvent-weld; if
push-fit, ensure a pipe clip is
fitted under the socket on the
pipe immediately below the
offset. When using solvent
cement, follow the safety instructions on the tube.

To keep the cut square, wrap

a piece of plain paper round
the downpipe at the place to
be cut, and use this as a
guide for a hacksaw. Clean
up the cut edges with a file.

Fit the first length of

downpipe with its socket
uppermost, securing it to the
wall with a socket pipe clip at
the top (8) and one-piece
barrel clips (where available)
for holding the pipe to the
wall. For masonry walls, use
an electric drill fitted with an appropriate bit to make holes
to take wallplugs for the securing screws. The maximum
spacing of pipe clips is 1.8m (6ft).

Continue to fit the remainder of the pipe in the same way,

fitting the open end of one pipe into the socket of the pipe
below, allowing a 10mm gap between the end of the pipe
and the bottom of the socket for expansion in warm
weather.

Some downpipes are fitted with a hopper head to receive

waste from another pipe. Secure the hopper head to the
wall. Adaptors are available for square downpipes.

If necessary, the downpipe can be run at an angle across the

wall, using pairs of 45º, 67.5º or 87.5º bends. On angled or
near-horizontal runs, fit pipe clips every 1m (3ft).

Where the downpipe from a second gutter (around a bay, for

example) joins the main downpipe, use a 67.5º branch pipe.
If you need to cut both ends of a pipe, fit a loose pipe socket
(available with wall-fixing lugs for 65mm square pipe) to the
end of the pipe.

With 65mm square and 68mm circular downpipe, you can fit
an access branch into the downpipe. This makes future
downpipe cleaning easier.

At the bottom of the

downpipe, fit a downpipe
shoe if the water is to
discharge onto a flat surface
or into an open gully (9).
Downpipe shoes on round
pipe need supporting with
pipe clips.

For direct connection to the underground drainage, ensure

that you have the correct connector (or adaptor for 65mm
square pipe); to connect to a back inlet gully, remove the
old mortar and replace with fresh mortar with the pipe in
place.

7 - Fitting extras
There are extras you can buy for your guttering system,
available through B&Q

A gutter guard comes in 10m lengths and is fitted to the top

of a gutter to keep leaves out. It simply clips into place once
you have cut it to the required width and length.

Similarly, a leaf guard fits into the top of a 68mm circular

downpipe and will keep leaves out of the downpipe. It also
prevents birds making nests there.

A drain cover keeps leaves out of an open gully. You need to

cut a hole in the cover to allow the downpipe to pass
through.

A rain diverter allows rainwater to be collected in a water

butt - the cunning design allows surplus water to flow down
the remainder of the downpipe once the water butt is full.
Instructions are supplied: the rain diverter simply fits into a
68mm circular or 65mm square downpipe at an appropriate
point, and is connected to the water butt by the flexible pipe
supplied. A second water butt can be connected to the first,
using a water-butt connector.