Neighbour says our new guttering has caused problems?

[Charlotte95]

Hi all,

We moved into our 3-bed end of terrace house six months ago and had all guttering, fascias and soffits replaced immediately as they were extremely old and a hole in the down pipe was causing damp in the house. This is our first property and we are complete newbies to everything house-related, so asked a close family friend who has done lots of work for us over the years to do the job. He replaced our deep guttering with standard size as he said deep guttering was unnecessary.

However, soon after the job was completed, our adjoining neighbour said our new guttering was causing his to overflow at the back of the house as our guttering is now shallower and higher than his, meaning the water doesn’t flow as well. The roofer has told us that the neighbour raised this with him when he came back to complete the job, but the roofer told the neighbour this issue is nothing to do with our new guttering as an adaptor had been fitted to join the two pipes together (picture 1). The roofer seems to think the neighbour was just trying to get the job done cheaply as he said he would pay for the necessary materials if our roofer could fix the issue.

From what I can see, the neighbour’s guttering shouldn’t be overflowing as it is deeper than ours so should be able to hold more water, and by the time it has risen to the height of our guttering through the adapter, it should flow just fine. He doesn’t seem to have his own downpipe but instead is connected to ours - I’m not sure if this is anything to do with the issue? (Picture 2)

I had a conversation with the neighbour about it which got quite heated and the neighbour refused to provide any video evidence of the overflowing gutter for me to send to the roofer. Am I missing something? Do we need to ask our roofer to replace the guttering so it’s the same size as our neighbour’s or is he just trying it on?

I’ve also attached a third picture of the whole thing if this is helpful. TIA!

 

[kp00110]

If your new shallower gutter sits higher and he has no downpipe, then his gutter must fill with some level of water before it outflows into your gutter. This would I imagine reduce the capacity of his gutter somewhat. What is the issue - does the water leak at the joint between the new and old gutters? That could only be the issue? The real issue to me looks like the white loft dormer downpipe overshooting the gutter altogether - but even then that discharges into the other neighbours gutter. So not sure what minimal water the gutter beneath the dormer is really even collecting (minimal)

 

[Charlotte95]

Thanks for your reply. According to the neighbour, the gutter isn’t leaking at the joint between old and new, but the joint is ‘pushing the water back’ along his gutter and causing it to overflow. I haven’t seen it happen myself and as he won’t provide any video evidence I’m struggling to see how this could happen.

Thanks for pointing out the issue with the dormer downpipe, I didn’t even notice that - seems even less likely then that our gutter will be causing an issue as his is pretty much sheltered from any rain!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

According to the neighbour, the gutter isn’t leaking at the joint between old and new, but the joint is ‘pushing the water back’ along his gutter and causing it to overflow.

That makes some sense to me, assuming the neighbours gutter slopes slightly (and wrongly) away from where it discharges at your end.

 

[Deleted member 267285]

Assuming yours is the white render and neighbours is blue, then I cant see where the neighbours terminates into, so if it is indeed higher, your Neighbours will have nowhere to flow to.

 

[Coopa]

Hi , . If water is overflowing his guttering then your guttering is not running properly as his gutter will hold about 2” of water because of step in join , before it would run away into your gutter and ‘ if’ yours is run correctly along and down the pipe . If his gutter filled up and overflowed then you would notice yours for sure as it would be cascading over aswell because the top of the join fitting are same level . I think either roofer knows solution and can’t be bothered to rerun it properly or the neighbours gutter has been a problem beforehand and is trying to hoodwink you into making you think it was your roofer.
His offer to pay suggests the latter as if someone causes a problem why offer to pay yourself to rectify
Personally and if I trust the roofer and his work I’d Persist at the neighbour and say that until you see video evidence or if you can film it happening yourself then there’s nothing you can do , then if his fibbing he shouldn’t pester you no more on the matter .. but if he shows you and it is overflowing call roofer to rerun yours or maybe not him as he messed up first of all Good luck

 

[Coopa]

Right ,on much closer inspection of photo , the union join on neighbours gutter above open window looks suspect ...has his gutter maybe been pulled along creating a gap so his gutter can meet your join ? It does happen Can you get a closer photo of that fitting ? I only ask as the gap created to that fitting would make a very large and loud splash as if the gutter was overflowing

 

[Notch7]

Square gutter and downpipes, when everything else is half round / round.

Its an odd choice to me.

from a practical sense, square downpipe is wrong in this situation: the downpipe should terminate with a swan neck and shoe - which would allow it to discharge into the downpipe properly

 

[Nige F]

Assuming yours is the white render and neighbours is blue, then I cant see where the neighbours terminates into, so if it is indeed higher, your Neighbours will have nowhere to flow to.

And the neighbour is left with an amount of water in the gutter because yours is higher. Friend or not , your roofer is wrong - your gutter should match the neighbour's one . ( that's what happens when roofers take over plumber's traditional jobs )

 

[JohnD]

Assuming

but is it?

 

[Deleted member 267285]

but is it?

Awaiting confirmation from OP

 

[Coopa]

“He replaced our deep guttering with standard size” the clue is there people

 

[Charlotte95]

Awaiting confirmation from OP

yep neighbour is blue

 

[RandomGrinch]

The guttering on terraces can cause all sorts of disharmony between neighbours! - my downpipe has been taking water from both neighbours and this has contributed to some leaks.

To play devil's advocate, I may say that he is lucky that you and his other neighbour have been so understanding and haven't complained about his guttering!; having his dormer empty straight onto nextdoors roof is a bit cheeky!
...and it's not as if he hasn't the opportunity for his own downpipe - his extension clearly has a gutter that drains somewhere!

 

[catlad]

Don't fall out with your neighbour because you employed an idiot to replace your guttering.