Finlock guttering removal in Enfield, North London

If you’ve read our blog before, you might remember previous reports about the horror that is “finlock concrete guttering” — three words to strike fear into any householder!

This system, which was popular with some builders in the 1960s, is where a concrete gutter is fixed to the top of the house wall, instead of a conventional gutter being attached to the end of the roof joists.

And as sure as night follows day, the concrete eventually starts to break down and moisture leaks into the top of the cavity walls.

Time to fix it!

Katie and her partner, from Enfield, knew they had a problem with their finlock gutters and they’d tried to keep out the damp by getting builders to apply waterproof paint to the inside of the concrete.

But when water started dripping into their bedroom they knew it was time to act.

Katie had been searching the internet for a specialist company to fix the problem. She found some offering a “nationwide” service, even though they were sometimes 150 miles away, but all they did was look on Google Maps for a picture of the property and then offer a quote.

Summit to the rescue

Fortunately, Katie came across Summit Cladding’s showroom at Crews Hill, Enfield, barely a mile from her home, and we were happy to come to her rescue.

We carried out a full survey of the concrete guttering and, among other things, discovered an asbestos soil pipe set into the middle of the gutter with an old aerial mast strapped to it. That would definitely have to come down.

Because of the weight of concrete to be removed, we needed to erect full scaffolding front and rear. Some builders may try to save money by using aluminium towers, but that’s not advisable.

Maintenance-free replacement

To carry out the job we used an industrial angle grinder to cut off the concrete gutters and then we fitted treated timber to the top of the wall, followed by an 18mm thick white plastic fascia board, which is completely maintenance-free with a 15-year guarantee.

At the same time, we fitted two additional downpipes and leaf guards to make Katie’s new guttering completely independent from the adjoining property, which had a lot of debris in its gutters. We also fitted a new PVC soil pipe to replace the old asbestos pipe, which had to be carefully removed and disposed of by a specialist contractor.

Summit Cladding completed the work in just two days and our clients cannot believe how it has transformed their property.

Categorised in: Concrete guttering removal, Guttering

This post was written by Summit Cladding