Gutters fail here for two completely different reasons
Most of the Northern Beaches has one of two gutter problems, and which one you have depends on whether your house faces the ocean or the bush.
On the ocean side, gutters rust. Salt-laden air settles in the gutter and stays there, because the inside of a gutter is a sheltered, unwashed trough that holds damp debris against the metal. Corrosion works from the inside outward, so by the time you can see rust from the ground the run is well gone. Downpipes, brackets, fascia covers and gutter joins all go at a similar rate, and a replacement that renews the gutter but leaves the old brackets and fasteners is a short-term fix.
On the bush side, gutters block. Frenchs Forest, Belrose, Forestville, Allambie Heights, Elanora Heights, Church Point and Bayview sit against Garigal National Park, the Manly Dam reserve and the bushland running to Ku-ring-gai Chase. Angophora and gum litter fills gutters and valleys, holds water, and dams it back under the roof covering. That is how a gutter problem turns into a ceiling problem.
Plenty of houses get both: a Collaroy or Narrabeen block with a street tree and a sea breeze, or a Seaforth house on a harbour slope under heavy canopy.
Call (02) 8000 1949 and we will look at it for free.
Blocked valleys are the expensive version
A gutter that overflows makes a mess of the garden. A blocked valley makes a mess of your ceiling.
The valley is the internal gutter where two roof planes meet, and it carries a lot of concentrated water. Pack it with wet leaf litter and the water level rises above the tile edges on both sides, where there is nothing designed to hold it back. Water then runs sideways under the tiles and into the roof space. Because the entry is well uphill, the ceiling stain often appears in a completely different room, and people spend months chasing the wrong leak.
Signs worth acting on:
- Staining or mould on a ceiling near an internal roof corner
- Grass, seedlings or moss visibly growing in a valley line
- A dark damp line on fascia or soffit below a valley exit
- Water that keeps coming through for a while after the rain stops, which is a dammed volume draining rather than active entry
Rust, fascia and the coastal replacement job
Where the metalwork is finished, the honest scope usually includes more than the gutter itself.
- Gutter profile and capacity. If the existing run was undersized for the roof area, replacing like-for-like just reproduces the overflow. Roof area, pitch and rainfall intensity all feed into the sizing, and modern large-roof additions frequently outgrew the original gutter.
- Downpipe number and position. Too few downpipes, or downpipes feeding into a drainage line that cannot take the flow, show up as overflow at the far end of a run.
- Fascia. On older beach cottages the timber fascia behind a rusted gutter is often soft. Hanging a new gutter off soft timber is a waste of the new gutter.
- Fasteners and brackets. Coastal exposure applies to these as much as to roof fixings, which is the point made in detail on the metal and Colorbond page.
- Flashings at the gutter line. The apron and the gutter edge have to work together, or wind-driven rain gets in behind the gutter rather than into it.
Box gutters on the modern rebuilds
The low-pitch and parapet houses through Avalon Beach, Whale Beach, Palm Beach, Bayview, Seaforth and the newer Warriewood Valley estates frequently run concealed box gutters rather than eave gutters. These are a different animal.
A box gutter sits inside the building envelope, so when it overflows the water goes into the house rather than over the edge. They need adequate width and depth, correct fall, an overflow provision and sumps and outlets that can pass the design flow. They also need to be clear, because a box gutter under a parapet is a long, sheltered trough that collects everything the wind drops into it and never gets rinsed properly.
If you have a flat-roofed or parapet house and you have never had the box gutter inspected, that is worth doing before the next heavy east-coast rain rather than after.
Leaf guard that suits where you live
There is no single best leaf guard, only the one that matches your litter and your roof.
- Under angophoras and spotted gums on the Forest and plateau streets, the dominant debris is long leaf and heavy seed capsules. A profile that sheds leaf off the top beats a flat fine mesh that collects it.
- Under paperbark and tea tree nearer the lagoons and wetlands at Narrabeen and Warriewood, the debris is fine and fibrous, and fine mesh does the work.
- On bushfire-prone land, the guard is also ember protection, and the material has to suit the AS 3959 requirements for the assessed BAL. Non-combustible mesh is the normal expectation.
- On open coastal blocks with no trees, guard is often unnecessary and the money is better spent on correct gutter sizing and more downpipes.
What the work costs
Linear metres of gutter, the number of downpipes, the gutter profile and material grade, whether fascia work is needed, the height of the house, access, and whether guard is included. Two-storey work and steep blocks add set-up time. Combining the gutter job with roof work on the same visit avoids paying twice for the same scaffold.
The inspection is free, the quote is written and itemised, and completed work carries a written workmanship warranty. Work is carried out by established, licensed and insured roofing contractors working to NSW Fair Trading requirements.
Sort the drainage before the next downpour
Call (02) 8000 1949 or request a quote. We handle gutters right across the service area, from Belrose and Forestville under the bushland to Collaroy and Narrabeen on the coast. If water has already come through a ceiling, see storm and emergency repairs.