Steel spouting repair

Hi again! This April's post is an all too common maintenance issue in wet countries... Steel spouting is stronger than plastic but can rust out after time or in areas close to the sea because of salt deposited on the roof. Its easier than you think to do the repairs! Even the corners are quite straight forward, here's how to do it ...

As you can see the bottom of this gutter has rusted out a long time ago, this can be damaging to the foundations and create a slippery surface below. To begin the repair you will need a piece of the same sized trough about 400mm longer than the piece you expect to replace. Begin by cutting out the old piece. On the new section of trough, begin by marking out the box end of the trough using a permanent marker.

Be sure to use a square to mark the cut lines to get the box symmetrical and square to the trough or it will look untidy, even of its a watertight seal. Here are the cut lines for a typical box end.

Once you have marked the cuts use a tin snip to cut out the profile.

Tip! Shade in the areas to remove as its easy to get confused and cut  the reverse and end up with a disaster!

This is how the final end panel should look. Make the folds using a pair of flat plumbing pliers and a hammer to flatten out the corners if needed.

Drill the holes for the rivets in the floor and end panel.

Apply a bead of silicone sealant between the two surfaces to be joined.

Do the same with the joint at the side and end panels and rivet together.

Wipe up any excess silicone that squeezes out of the joints.

Your end should look like this!

Install the new section of trough making sure you overlap the old with the new by at least 150 mm, and applying several continuous beads of silicone between the two surfaces and rivet together with two sets of rivets about 100mm apart.

Thats the job done! It should not take more than about 45 to 60 minuteds to complete this simple repair.