PVC sheeting to protect facia from rainwater damage?

[decam0]

Our cast-iron guttering is, apparently, too shallow on the facia side. So...during heavy downpours, rainwater fills the gutters to capacity (we have a large steeply pitched hipped roof with guttering all round). It then overflows down the facia causing the wood to rot. We don't want to replace the guttering or the facia boards with plastic (hate plastic!). We have heard of a product which consists of strips of PVC sheeting (yes...I know it's plastic!) in lengths of about a metre and about 30cms wide. Each strip, about 10cms in from the long edge, is angled at about 20 degrees. This sheeting is slipped under the felt (and tiles of course) all round the roof with the angled edge exposed and dipping downwards into the guttering providing a barrier to backflow. I hope this is a clear enough description.
Would you recommend using this product to solve our problem? Or would doing the same with roof felting do just as well?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Delia

 

[masona]

Not sure if I'm reading this correctly, if the rainwater is overflowing at the gutter then I would think the downpipe size cannot cope with the large amount of water in the short time, you may have a wire mesh at the top of the downpipe and is blocked with debris or you may have a slight blockage in the down pipe, I've used a garden hose with water running to unblock it.

 

[decam0]

Hi masona
The guttering and downpipes have recently been cleaned, though they may have been blocked in the past (we had rather neglected the house - slapped wrist!). The guttering and downpipes are as large as you can get. The man who's now putting everything to rights says that a house of this era (1930's) should have been built with the roof felt extended so that it hangs slightly into the guttering and protects the facia from splashback. He's saying that this PVC product will do the same job.
What do you reckon?
Delia

 

[^woody^]

This is 'eaves tray' and is commonly fitted to all new build.

When roof felt is draped into the gutter it only lasts a few years before it rots, eaves tray lasts much longer

 

[masona]

He's saying that this PVC product will do the same job.
What do you reckon?
Delia

Yes it will, have a read here > //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=81139

 

[prod]

hi delia,the way you describe the gutter being lower on the facia side on a property this age would suggest that the cast iron has corroded away i`ve seen this on several occasions it may be worth a closer inspection, if this is the case replacement may be your only option,cast iron guttering is still available but expensive, an alternative to cast or plastic is aluminimum http://www.rainclear.co.uk/products.asp?cat=20

 

[decam0]

Thanks guys for your very prompt help on this problem.
Now we know exactly what our roofing man is talking about and we can make sure he fits it correctly.
And 'prod'.....the guttering looks to be intact with no corrosion. But thanks anyway for the advice, we'll keep that in mind in case we have problems in the future.
Delia

 

[kevnurse]

Delia might have moved on from this discussion, so my opinion might count for nothing. I believe her problem is simply that her rainwater system does not have enough capacity. Rather than protect her property from the excess water in the gutters, she would be better served by increasing the number of downpipes, even if the additional ones go into soakaways.

 

[JohnD]

If cast iron, I would have thought less likely undersized, but very likely to have drooped or tilted so it doesn't have a proper fall, so water is not running away fast enough. Delia really needs to be up her scaffolding looking into the gutter next time it rains heavily.

 

[decam0]

For kevnurse
We DO have only two downpipes for the whole of the roof, but I think it's adequate. The problem in the past was probably caused by blocked gutters and downpipes (and neglect). We now get them cleaned out regularly, but they get blocked again each year because of so many trees around us. We're hoping that these 'eaves trays' will keep the water off the facias till we can get the gutters cleaned out at the end of leaf fall.

For JohnD
The man who last cleaned the gutters for us said that the fall was okay.
And you won't get me going up any scaffolding!

Thanks for your imput guys.

 

[Mw Roofline]

I know what you mean about not wanting plastic. You can get black and woodgrain plastic fascia boards (not normal brown or black). they look like real wood and even have grainy indentations on the surface.

You can also get cast iron effect plastic guttering. Its a powder coated gutter and it looks spot on.

We have recently fitted a 6 bed house (the guys garage was actually the size of my entire house LOL) with blackgrain fascia and this cast iron effect stuff and it looks the dogs nuts!

 

[^woody^]

You can also get cast iron effect plastic guttering. Its a powder coated gutter and it looks spot on.

Hmmm... but I bet it still creaks like plastic!

 

[Mw Roofline]

You can also get cast iron effect plastic guttering. Its a powder coated gutter and it looks spot on.

Hmmm... but I bet it still creaks like plastic!

Shh

 

[daverik]

. The gutters will have been set with an adequate fall originally otherwise previous owners since 1930`s would have had them sorted. The guy who mentioned felt is wrong, unless the property has been re-roofed. Felt was not used when originally built. Cast iron gutters suffer badly at the back. This is the unprotected part, as when painting occurs over the years they never get painted at the rear. Unfortunately I think you are at the point of replacement, whether plastic, alluminium or cast iron again. Other solutions will be repairs only and false economy imo.