Gutter joint and seal repairs in Teesside

The joint is the weak point in every uPVC system

Lengths of guttering do not fail, the connections between them do. Every union, corner and stop-end relies on a rubber gasket compressed between two pieces of plastic, and those gaskets have a working life of ten to fifteen years in Teesside's freeze-thaw winters. When one perishes, the joint weeps every time it rains, and the fix is mechanical, not chemical: separate the union, clean both faces, fit a new gasket, clip it back together and test it.

Why sealant alone does not last

The tube of gutter sealant from the DIY shop has its place, but squeezed over a wet, dirty gasket it is a sticking plaster on a moving joint. uPVC expands and contracts through the day, and a joint sealed in place rather than resealed properly simply shears the new sealant within a season. A proper joint repair costs £60 to £110 and is done once.

When the joint is fine but the fall is not

Roughly a third of the leaking joints seen on Teesside homes are victims, not culprits: the gutter has lost its fall, water ponds at the lowest union, and a gasket that would have coped with flowing water gives up under a permanent head of standing water. Resealing without correcting the fall means the same joint fails again. Both get checked, and if the fall is the real problem the quote says so, with the realignment priced separately.