Clear Your Gutters!
Griff Rhys Jones heads up SPAB's National Maintenance Week 2007
Now an established event in the calendar, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings' (SPAB) National Maintenance Week provides property owners throughout the UK with practical tips and advice on maintaining their properties in preparation for winter. SPAB's 2007 campaign is supported by TV's Griff Rhys Jones and aims to encourage homeowners (and people who care for public buildings such as churches, village halls and local authority properties) to be aware of the simple, economic and achievable maintenance steps they can take at the beginning of winter to stave off costly major faults and damage at a later date.
"It's really common sense", says Griff. "My own experience of maintenance has everything to do with being house-proud. If you look at your lovely house for long enough you will probably spot that it's falling apart! Global warming is making exterior paint last less long. Gutters fill up with leaves. Tiles ping off. I was recently with a farmer in North Yorkshire walking through someone else's farm where a lot of the dry stone walls had fallen down and remarked that it must be a big problem. "It's not," he said. "It's easy. Just repair it when it happens. Leave it and others fall down and then the job becomes huge."
National Gutters Day (Friday 23 November 2007) is a timely reminder to homeowners that just a few minutes spent clearing weeds and debris, or just a few pounds spent to mend a leaky gutter can save many hundreds, and possibly thousands of pounds!
Griff Rhys Jones' top tips for gutter maintenance
- Every spring and autumn, clear any plants, leaves and silt from gutters, hopperheads, flat roofs and drainage channels
- Look for blocked downpipes (best done during heavy rain to see water coming from any leaky joints - in dry weather look for stained brickwork)
- Keep gullies at ground level clear and have them cleaned out if necessary
- Remove vegetation from behind downpipes by cutting back or removing the plant altogether
- Use a hand mirror to look behind rainwater pipes as splits and cracks in old cast iron and aluminium often occur there and are not easily noticed
- Fit bird/leaf guards to the tops of soil pipes and rainwater outlets to prevent blockages.
- Check that gutters junctions are watertight by watching them in rainy conditions
- Have gutters refixed if they are sloping the wrong way or discharging water onto the wall
- If sections are beyond repair, make sure that replacements are made of the same material as the originals (on older houses, this is sometimes lead, but more usually cast iron)
- Regular painting of cast iron is essential to prevent rust
Always wear protective gloves when necessary and act safely and responsibly
For further information visit SPAB's dedicated National Maintenance Week website, www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
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