Green Blog

The guttering on a property is actually an integral part of a building and should be well looked after. Of all of the elements, water is the most detrimental to any building, whether it be a home or business and guttering helps keep the property protected. Investing in a proper set of guttering will stand you and your building in good stead. It is not always easy to know what is available and which types of gutters commonly found in the UK are the best choice for you or your property.

Firstly, gutters are not a modern invention. The importance of using guttering on property can be traced back as far as the time of the Romans. There is also evidence to suggest that a rain collection system in the form of guttering was used for dwellings even before this time.

Guttering was introduced to the UK in A. D. 47 by the Romans. During the 11th century, the Normans rebuilt many buildings in the UK and included guttering in the new structures. Believe it or not, guttering was also a common subject of dispute during the Middle Ages. As the years went on, guttering became more efficient and a variety of materials were used.

For many years lead was the material of choice for making gutters. Then in 1709, with access to more raw materials and coke, cast iron became the gutter material of choice. From the 19th century onwards, most buildings had cast iron guttering instead of lead ones.

In these modern times, there are three prevailing types of gutters commonly found in the UK. Cast iron guttering can still be found on a number of older buildings dotted around the UK. This material is strong and hard-wearing but it must be properly maintained to keep its efficiency throughout the years.

Second of the types of gutters found in the UK is PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride). These are undoubtedly the most favored by residents in the UK thanks to the fact that they are cheap to buy, easy to fit and are made of lightweight material. This makes them the ideal choice should existing guttering become broken or flies off of a building.

Another choice when it comes to types of gutters commonly found in the UK is pressed steel guttering. This option is not as popular as either cast iron or PVC options but it can be found on some properties around the country. Pressed steel gutters have the advantage of being lightweight and very strong. The main reason that they are not as common in the UK as the other two options is that it is very expensive to purchase.

Home maintenance is important. It's simple to have your gutter cleaning needs taken care of fast when you choose a London gutter cleaning professional. The gutter team can take care of this maintenance task for you quickly!

As time goes on, drains and sewers can deteriorate leading to possible structural problems. The cause for this deterioration can be a variety of different reasons from ground movement, root intrusions or simply poor construction. Whatever the reason for the problem, it cannot harm you by knowing what is going on under your property. CCTV is one way to be sure that you know what problems that you may have to face

Drains run underground mostly. Stating the obvious I know but that means that you can’t know for sure what is going on inside the pipe. The problem could be a blockage, or equally, a collapsed wall, a tree root intrusion, and also many other possible causes of the problem with your drains. Not knowing to me is not an option, better to know what you’re dealing with so that preventative measures can be taken

Once you know that you have a drainage problem, there are a couple of ways that you can diagnose the problem. Using CCTV, there are two systems available to you. These are the push rod and also available is the crawler system. The push rod and the crawler system are both available through reputable drainage specialist- better perhaps to know that they are available so you can ask your drainage contractor which they carry. They should carry both systems

The crawler system is used for drainage pipes over 150mm in diameter. Smaller drainage systems (less than 150mm) are diagnosed using the push rod system. Full, detailed reports are then compiled to show exactly what is wrong with the drain so you can then decide what is the best method of solving the drainage problem

An experienced CCTV operator will look out for a variety of problems. Collapsed drains can look remarkably similar to blocked drains and the two problems may need to be tackled in different ways. Tree roots can be seen through the camera lens. Surveys can be written up into a document and then written to a DVD so that they can be stored and recalled easily in the future

If you are planning to build and extension to a property, CCTV can be used for a build over survey. Basically, this is a survey of the drainage condition underground so that you can see the condition before building over them. If you bury a problem, it will be much more expensive in the future should problems arise in the future

About the author: Lee Davidson runs a Cardiff drain company. If you are check outing a house extension, check out a Cardiff drain cleaning CCTV report

If you are unfortunate enough to have a drainage problem it is important to get it looked at as soon as possible as it will end up causing a blockage. There are many ways to repair broken drains, but the first thing to do is to identify the cause of your problem using a CCTV Drain Camera Survey. After identifying the problem, we can then find the best solution to repair your broken drain. Sometimes, the only way to fix the section of pipe i.e if the pipe has collapsed would be to excavate. This is usually not as alarming as it sounds. We dig down to the problem cut out and replace the affected area. Other times you can fix the problem from within the pipe by using a patch, and for simpler fixs you can use high pressure water jetting machines

If a drainage system is not buried very deep and there are trees near as the tree gets bigger the roots will spread and sometimes break their way in to the drain which will hold up solids flowing through and end up causing a blockage. If this happens it doesnt necessarily mean the pipe will have to be excavated and replaced. Using a high pressure jetting machine and a root cutter a professional drainage company cut out the intruding roots and then place a patch liner over where the roots intruding from with the pipe which will stop the roots growing again and causing further problems

Ground movement and heavy objects being left on or rolled over drains can cause damage to the drain pipe. This sort of thing can cause open joints (where two pieces of pipe pull apart), cracks in the pipe or even the pipe to collapse. Heavy weight on PVC pipes can cause the pipe shape to deform into an oval shape. I have even seen a wooden marker stake penetrating a new PVC pipe which was accidentally hammered through when marking out the land for a new build. Usually these defects are picked up with a CCTV drain camera survey

It is not unheard of for foreign objects to be accidentally dropped down drainage systems especially on new build sites if man hole covers are left of during construction. I have seen all sorts of things down there including stones, wood and even work mens tools. Another favorite to be left down drains is drain rods, they normally come apart when people try to unblock their own drains instead of calling in the professionals. These obstructions can normally be removed with a high pressure water jetting machine but in more stubborn cases the drain can have to be dug up and replaced with new

If you have a piece of pipe missing or have cut out roots while excavating is still necessary in some cases you can now also use No Dig Technology! This is when we can fix the problem from within the pipe without the mess and stress for the customer of having their garden or patio dug up! We use a product which is basically a two foot piece of matting which is coated in resin and wrapped around an inflatable packer and inflated in the pipe at the affected area and left to set for two hours. Once set the packer is removed leaving a perfect patch covering the old drain problem covered. Whenever a No Dig Repair is possible it will always be cheaper than digging up the pipe to make the repair

When drain has collapsed you cant get a packer into the affected area to patch the break so unfortunately you have to dig down to expose the broken pipe , then cut the break out and put new pipe in using collars to hold it in place. I always find the easiest method is to use a slip collar which slides over the new pipe before fitting the when fitted slides over covering the old and new pipe held in place by its rubber seals. Then we cover the new piece of pipe with fine shingle stone and fill back in the trench and reinsstate the surface so as if nothing has been done

Problems with your sewer system? Lee Davidson manges a drain cleaning bridgend business. For assistance with all aspets of high pressure water jetting give Elite Pipeline a call