What is this guttering?

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Dulouz

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# 214489 14-May-2017 17:03

I'm looking at a property and would like some help identifying this guttering system. It looks different to what I am used to and I'm concerned that it is one of those systems that if it gets blocked it can direct water back into the house.

Amanon

mattwnz

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# 1782017 14-May-2017 17:27

From your photos, it looks like it is a concealed gutter system. So the gutters are above the soffits, and behind that metal angled fascia. Normally gutters will sit on the outside of the fascia. Is that a patch I can see on the soffit in the second photo? You will want to make sure with any concealed system, that they do have drainage slots in the soffits, so if water did ever get into the soffits, that it won't ever track back to the walls. You want the water to be able to get out.

Dulouz

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# 1782022 14-May-2017 17:34

Thanks - It's not completely concealed i.e you can see it from the top.

I think it is a seam you can see rather than a patch. I didn't see any holes in the soffits although before you posted your response I'd never heard of a soffit.

Amanon

k1w1k1d

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# 1782026 14-May-2017 17:39

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MIL has that hidden gutter system on her house. The guttering behind the fascia was Marley plastic with rubber expansion joints. The rubber had deteriorated and leaked water into the kitchen bay window.

She had to get all the guttering replaced with new Marley plastic with the normal expansion joint system.

There may be slot channels every so often along the outer edge of the soffit that drain water if the gutter gets too full. There is also no barge board fitted behind the plastic gutter.

Not my favourite gutter system. Much prefer a barge board with an exposed gutter system fixed to it.

Suggest get a step ladder out and have a good look around the whole house for possible problems.

Fred99

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# 1782034 14-May-2017 17:45

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For a "concealed" system, it's also king of ugly - though beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Concealed gutter with great big bright white external downpipes kind of defeats the purpose. OTOH it's very easy to paint the downpipes with exterior acrylic paint, to a softer tone to take that harshness out of them.

If that house if pre about 2002/3 completion, be a bit wary with that gutter system. OTOH if it's not causing a problem at the moment. then it's probably not a major job to replace it with a conventional fascia and external gutter system in the future.

Personally I don't like the "heavy" look of the faux tiles etc - the house would look much nicer with a colour steel corro roof and standard gutter system.

Handle9

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# 1782038 14-May-2017 18:02

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OT but that roof has seen better days. Looks like king kong has been walking in the wrong places. Its pretty easy to replace decramastic tiles but you shoukd factor that in to the purchase price.

lapimate

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# 1782040 14-May-2017 18:12

Handle9: ... Its pretty easy to replace decramastic tiles ...

Is it easy to get the correct profile tiles to match/fit existing?

RickW

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# 1782046 14-May-2017 18:30

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That is the taylor internal fascia system. You really don't want it on your house as when it leaks and it will, it will flow back into the building cavity and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. I would factor in replacing the gutter and fascia in your purchase price. It's a bugger of a job as you will have to remove the soffit board remove bottom row of tiles put a new bottom purlin in, cut back the rafters and then install the new fascia, gutter and soffit board. I own a roofing company have my lbp in roofing. We're constantly receiving calls at least 2 a week from when it has gone wrong.

Rick

mattwnz

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# 1782065 14-May-2017 18:54

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The actual roof tiles don't look too bad condition from the photos, I have seen far worse, as normally the chips come off and end up in the gutter, causing steel gutters to rust. Pity about the dents though on the tiles. Agree that it would probably look better with corro roofing, but that may also mean new flashing under cladding which is a huge job. But you should probably get a builder to look at it, as it looks like there may have been some DIY work on the place.

Handle9

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# 1782066 14-May-2017 18:55

lapimate:
Handle9: ... Its pretty easy to replace decramastic tiles ...
Is it easy to get the correct profile tiles to match/fit existing?

Those ones look like a standard Gerard profile. I bought some from them a few years ago.

http://gerardroofs.co.nz/RoofingProducts

Mavarick

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# 1782069 14-May-2017 19:01

Its like any system they can leak if not maintained properly, in the second pic you have the overflows to the left of the down-pipe, and with what looks like 600mm sofits so that ok, the last pic has none and that would need to cleaned more often, had that style on my last house and had no issues

Gilco2

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# 1782093 14-May-2017 19:56

our house has that guttering built in 1993. Been here since new 1km from beach and never had a problem. Mind you I clean gutters out daily in autumn as in 1998 council planted Poplars in reserve right behind us.

scuwp

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# 1782130 14-May-2017 21:34

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RickW: That is the taylor internal fascia system. You really don't want it on your house as when it leaks and it will, it will flow back into the building cavity and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. I would factor in replacing the gutter and fascia in your purchase price. It's a bugger of a job as you will have to remove the soffit board remove bottom row of tiles put a new bottom purlin in, cut back the rafters and then install the new fascia, gutter and soffit board. I own a roofing company have my lbp in roofing. We're constantly receiving calls at least 2 a week from when it has gone wrong.

Rick

Exactly this. Had it in a couple of house builds ago, it was all the rage then. Nothing but trouble and wouldn't touch it again. Now the design failures are becoming apparent in houses of that era. Definitely factor in replacement. It's not a matter of if, but when...

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be the Batman

RickW

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# 1782141 14-May-2017 22:21

Mavarick:

Its like any system they can leak if not maintained properly, in the second pic you have the overflows to the left of the down-pipe, and with what looks like 600mm sofits so that ok, the last pic has none and that would need to cleaned more often, had that style on my last house and had no issues

From my personal experience 99% of the time its not a maintenance issue.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit but even with my experience knowing that it should of been one of the first things I did when we purchased the house and the fact that I clean out the gutters at home every 3 months and know what to look for as I'm cleaning them.

Just over 2 months ago we had a really heavy downpour in Christchurch and the gutter started overflowing. The water had no where to go but inside the building cavity and started pouring out around the inside of the master bedroom window. Long story short, I shot straight outside and started smashing out the soffit board to stop the water getting in. We have since replaced the gutter and fascia and had to replace 2 studs as they had started to rot, 1 window as the mdf had swollen and re-line 2 rooms.

The overflows in the fascia over time get blocked up with dirt/dust and don't work or do but at a greatly reduced flow rate. combine that with that that the houses of that error used bitumen based building wrap that deteriorates when it gets wet and pretty much becomes useless at keeping water out.

The main issue with the Taylor and other internal fascia systems is the fact that by the time you generally notice that there is an issue its caused a lot of damage.

Rick

mattwnz

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# 1782143 14-May-2017 22:35

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I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to install some large holes in the sofit board under the gutter area and put some grills under it to stop birds getting in. So if it ever did leak, at least the water would be easily able to get out of the ceiling cavity before it made it to the wall.

robjg63

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# 1782176 15-May-2017 07:46

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RickW: That is the taylor internal fascia system. You really don't want it on your house as when it leaks and it will, it will flow back into the building cavity and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. I would factor in replacing the gutter and fascia in your purchase price. It's a bugger of a job as you will have to remove the soffit board remove bottom row of tiles put a new bottom purlin in, cut back the rafters and then install the new fascia, gutter and soffit board. I own a roofing company have my lbp in roofing. We're constantly receiving calls at least 2 a week from when it has gone wrong.

Rick

Yep. Exactly this. Had the misfortune of having two houses with this awful system. Gutters were always kept clean and it was mostly ok, but when you got that occasional, extra monsoon like rain dump, they would overflow and it always ended up backflowing into the house. Fortunately I sold before too much damage was visible.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler