Wonky Cast Aluminium Gutters, am I being unreasonable???

[glock339]

I spent quite a lot of money (for me anyway) on some cast aluminium guttering which I finally got around to fitting & noticed the lengths were pretty warped & seem to splay out more open at the if that makes sense & the ends are WAY out of square. I emailed the company & got a response saying:

"the same as cast iron, the victorian system chosen does 'lean forward’"

"Cast guttering system are the traditional, oldy worldy feel systems are are not designed to look perfect"

"Cast aluminium systems should be installed on fascia brackets"

Now I'll admit I chose not to use brackets out of personal preference, but brackets would not have any affect on the shape of the guttering which is solid & dose not bend when even when considerable pressure is applied. I'll add some photos bellow, let me know if you think I'm expecting to much or the product is bellow par

 

[datarebal]

Just as they say, it's cast and each piece is rarely perfect or the same. Cast iron can be worse.
Ideally sort through them , use the worse bots on the short runs etc

 

[^woody^]

I see many cast iron gutters that have been in place for over 100 years and they are even, in line and look better than that - which contradicts that company's assertions.

Its a crap job all right

 

[glock339]

Ideally sort through them , use the worse bots on the short runs etc

The entire job is only 3 full lengths & 1 short so only bought 4 lengths as they were getting on for something like £50/£60 each I certainly didn't buy extras & I thought I wouldn't have to at that price.

I see many cast iron gutters that have been in place for over 100 years and they are even, in line and look better than that

Thats what I thought, theres loads of old iron gutters around where I live & they all look a straighter than these to me!

 

[big-all]

if its turning up at the front between the brackets that suggests to me the facia or somthing at the back is forceing the gutter out off line and forward as the profile cant bend or stretch to any extent it can only rotate to relive the force trying to bend it

 

[glock339]

suggests to me the facia or somthing at the back is forceing the gutter out off line

That was my first thought as well so loosened off all fixings enough so you can actually wiggle the whole run a little bit but it didn't seem to make any difference to be honest.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Surely you'd notice this on the ground?

 

[datarebal]

They look good because they were fitted by experienced fitters

 

[tell80]

First thing is gutter brackets/clips should be fixed to a falling string line at 1:40 to outlets. Anyreturnends need taking into account.
Its not clear but i only see one clip in your pics. clips are set to a schedule especialy near fittings. the gutter runs are then simply snapped into place. The clip in yyour pic is on the capping fitting, it should be just past the fitting not on it.
Your gutter bolts are wrong, they should be facing the other way. the bolt head shouldbe in the gutter flat and be nut and washered from below. When thebolts stick up like yours they cancatch debris.its also easier to adjust or remove the bolts from below.
Companies recommend expensive sealants but plumbers mate might be just as good.

 

[Nige F]

I see many cast iron gutters that have been in place for over 100 years and they are even, in line and look better than that - which contradicts that company's assertions.

Its a crap job all right

Ah - so Oh Gee from China ?

 

[^woody^]

Shi

 

[glock339]

Surely you'd notice this on the ground?

Nah I'd just finished the roof with about an hour of daylight left so quickly got the gutters still in the bubble wrap up on the scaffold & didn't notice the shapes until I looked along the run, thats when I tried loosening off the fixings to make sure they weren't being distorted etc but they & the one I didn't actually fit (just used short section cut off it) were not straight or square.

They look good because they were fitted by experienced fitters

OK

First thing is gutter brackets/clips should be fixed to a falling string line at 1:40 to outlets. Anyreturnends need taking into account.
Its not clear but i only see one clip in your pics. clips are set to a schedule especialy near fittings. the gutter runs are then simply snapped into place. The clip in yyour pic is on the capping fitting, it should be just past the fitting not on it.
Your gutter bolts are wrong, they should be facing the other way. the bolt head shouldbe in the gutter flat and be nut and washered from below. When thebolts stick up like yours they cancatch debris.its also easier to adjust or remove the bolts from below.
Companies recommend expensive sealants but plumbers mate might be just as good.

Some cast aluminium gutters are designed to give you the option to either use brackets or direct fit them to the facia without brackets, which is what I chose so there are no brackets. I'll hold my hands up & say after going back & reading up on instructions for this option just now it says I was supposed to fit wedges behind the gutters which would reduce the amount of forward lean so thats on me although they do lean forward to different amounts along their line.

I know the bolts traditionally go the other way up but I just prefer the look this way & will be using gutter guards which have always worked well for me in the past at preventing/reducing debris plus with it being a bungalow maintainence is easy so I'm not to worried about that.

The instructions were vague on sealants & said something along the lines of use a suitable mastic or sealant so I just went with the "No Nonsense Gutter Sealant" I had lying around which fingers crossed is ok.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So when fitting a run of gutters, you just blindly tighten up all the fixings and connections without at any point during the task looking from one end to the other to check that everything aligns?

 

[glock339]

So when fitting a run of gutters, you just blindly tighten up all the fixings and connections without at any point during the task looking from one end to the other to check that everything aligns?

Think I've said a few times now after I fitted the 3 & a bit lengths direct to the board I noticed. The bottom edge of the gutters were fitted to a struck chalk line with the appropriate fall so are perfectly in line & I made sure the top back edge of the gutters under the eves guards were in line, I presumed the gutter sections were fairly straight & square so the front edge should be ok until I looked & noticed it was a bit wavy.

If we go back to the original post I was merely asking the simple question: should I expect straighter gutters or am I being to picky?

 

[datarebal]

We have fitted 10s of thousand £ of cast Ali and iron . It's normal for some pieces to be not perfect .
Even one of the top names on alloy gutters .
Unfortunately you only have a few lengths to play with.