Billy's gutters latest!

Back in December, I blogged about my gutters looking a bit rotten. Now the weather is better, I thought I'd have a pop at fixing them. Its one of those jobs I've been planning in my head for ages, so I was fairly sure I knew what I was going to do.

1) use a screwdriver to scrape away all the crap, 2) cure the rust with some kurust, 3) pack any cavities, 4) seal with proper car filler stuff, 5) prime and paint. It pretty well went as planned.

Here are the holes after I'd cleared and kurusted them - the first picture is the middle of the gutter, the second picture is the back corner:



Here's a photo of the middle hole from inside - look, you can see the daylight shining through!

Once I'd cleared all the holes out, I decided to pack the cavities with clear silicone. I know it's usual to use newspaper and chicken wire or something, but these holes were all really weird and cavernous, and so I thought I'd just squeeze loads of goop in there and let it find it's way into all the nooks and crannies.

Then, I got the lovely clever car filler stuff and filled the holes. I like the way it comes in two tubes, and when you mix it together the little tube makes the stuff in the big tube go hard. Clever.

This was layer one, I put a second layer on as well which was more smooth and sanded and stuff. I then primed it, ready to paint another day...

But the next day... it rained, and I found it's still leaking!!!! :( boooo.

So I'm sat inside Billy doing some carpentry (!) and the thing is merrily dripping away. At first I was catching the drips in a bowl, and then I had to upgrade to a 5 litre jerry can!

When I was priming my repair, I did find a little area that didn't look like it was properly filled - you couldn't really see it until it was painted. I hoped for the best, but it looks like it's the culprit.

I know this because I did a little test - I dammed the gutters with blu tak, and filled them with water, and I could see all the little bits of flotsam and jetsam vanishing down the crack. So, next time it's dry, I have to sand down the primer and get my filler on again! Booooo