Guttering often suffers from being neglected, as it is rather “out of sight, out of mind” and not the sexiest part of the property!  However, this area is one of the most important in the house. If your rainwater goods don’t work properly, the house will sooner or later suffer problems with damp and rot. Worse still, consistently wet ground by the main walls can eventually undermine the foundations and lead to possible structural movement.

These days, there are certainly no shortage of companies offering to replace your guttering with maintenance free UPVC, including double glazing companies looking for extra products to bolster their shrinking market. The problem is that your new UPVC guttering/fascias certainly won’t be maintenance free if they aren’t fitted properly!  Many problems arise because new gutters simply aren’t plumbed in correctly, giving you inadequate falls and meaning that rainwater won’t drain away effectively, leaving you with standing water in the gutters which will cause water to cascade over the walls during heavy downpours. Also, if you have a felted roof which is relatively old, the chances are that the overhang into the gutter will be corroded. This fault could well have caused your old fascias to rot in the first place and is very often not dealt with by budget roofline companies.


Problems with felt overhangs

One issue often overlooked when you have gutters or fascias replaced is that with relatively old felted roofs the chances are that the felt overhang which helps carry out rainwater into the gutters will be partially or completely rotted away. This issue is quite often what causes the roofline timbers to start rotting in the first place.
This issue can be resolved by either replacing the edge felt with new, or even better, you can have specialist “eaves protector” installed. This is a specially moulded UPVC insert which is fixed to the old felt and will last forever.

Correct installation of eaves protector by one of our own operatives		This is NOT how it should be done
The Aquaseal System
If you choose Aquaseal to do your guttering or roofline, then you’re definitely in the best hands. We can replace just your old guttering with the UPVC variety, or you can go the whole hog and have all the roofline (fascias & soffits) replaced at the same time.  The fixing of new fascias and soffitts Because we have to give lengthy guarantees on our work, we do not entertain so called “coverboard”, which as the name suggests, just involves covering over your existing boards with slim plastic when you have your gutters replaced. When you have a quote from a company it is important to establish whether it is for full replacement or just to have it covered over. Most of the budget prices and quotations you may hear of will more than likely be for coverboard. Aquaseal do not do coverboard because you will be more than likely storing up problems for the future, especially if you already have some rot in your existing boards.   What can happen with coverboard       Aquaseal’s timber lath framework system           When fitting new UPVC fascia and soffitts at your home, Aquaseal only use a unique timber lath framework system, which makes the whole installation around 3 times stronger. We also always take care of any problems with felt overhangs as a matter of course, and we also trim and pack rafter ends which may not be level any more due to house settlement so that when we install the new fascia boards they are perfectly aligned.         If you live in a house where there are trees nearby, you probably find yourself having to unblock the gutters on an all too regular basis.  The answer is to have Aquaseal install leafguard into your existing guttering.               Leafguard