A leaking gutter joint, fix it or replace it?

The drip from the same fitting every time it rains is the most common gutter fault on Teesside, and the most over-sold. Here is the honest decision tree.

Reseal when the plastic is sound

A union is two pieces of guttering clipped over a rubber gasket. The gasket perishes, the plastic rarely does. If the union separates cleanly, the clip lugs are intact, and the gutter faces are smooth, a new gasket and a proper reassembly is the whole job. Ten minutes of the repairer's time plus the part, £60 to £110 including the diagnosis and water test.

Replace when the plastic has had it

Three conditions change the answer. First, cracking: hairline splits at the clip points or along the top edge mean the polymer is brittle, and a new gasket in a cracked union buys a season at best. Second, chalking: white, powdery uPVC has been UV-degraded and will crack under the pressure of reassembly. Third, deformation: a union warped by years of ponded water will not compress a new gasket evenly. In all three, the fitting itself is replaced, typically still under £150 including the section.

The third possibility: it was never the joint

A gutter that has lost its fall ponds water at the lowest point, and the joint sitting under permanent standing water fails first, not because it was the weakest, but because it was the wettest. Resealing it without correcting the fall resets the clock on the same failure. If the same joint has been "fixed" twice, the fall is the real fault, and realignment at £100 to £180 is the actual repair.

What to ask before approving the work

Two questions settle most of it: "Show me why it failed," and "What happens if it leaks again?" The first should produce a perished gasket or a cracked fitting, something you can see. The second should produce confidence, not caveats.