Cleaning and draining

First, you should clean your guttering using a putty knife to scoop out leaves or any other debris that have been caught up in the gutter. Wearing garden gloves, scrub the gutter with a hard bristled brush. Then rinse out the gutter with a hose and allow it to dry. Rinsing the gutter is also a good way of finding out whether there are any leaks that need to be fixed.

Fixing holes

If you find a leak in your guttering, you can fix it with roofing cement or silicone sealant and a patch of whatever material the guttering is made from – perhaps plastic or aluminium. Make sure the patch of material is a few inches larger than the hole in the gutter and fix it in place.

Repair leaking joints

If you find that a leak is coming from a joint rather than a hole in the guttering, don’t worry – even seamless joints will fail over time, allowing leaks. To fix the problem you should reassemble the gutter pieces, lining them up at the seams. Then reconnect the joints and the problem should be solved.

Fix sagging

Most gutters are held in place by ferrules – large spikes which are contained in tubular sleeves. Sometimes the spike can pull free and, if that happens, the gutter will sag. The best way to fix this problem is to replace the ferrules with long gutter screws, which are easily fitted and will once again fasten the guttering in place.

Replace brackets

During heavy snowfall the holding brackets responsible for holding the system in place can break, as a result of the extra weight from the snow and the effect of extreme cold. You can take precautions against this by clearing excess snow from the guttering when it builds up. If this doesn’t work, and one or more of the brackets do snap, it is easy to buy replacements from suppliers or online.