The downpipe in the above photo was leaking and the client was getting water ingress to the house.
A leaking downpipe can mean that either the gutters are full and causing a blockage or the downpipe has debris blocking it. Water ingress could be due to the full gutters.
We attended the gutter clean on the property and found that all the gutters had some sort of guard, be it metal or plastic, and they were fully under the guard, with moss and broken-down gum tree debris. The top of the guard had leaf matter, bark, dirt and plants growing through the gutter guard.
The leaking downpipe had a rain head on the top of it and it was full. A root system growing down the pipe was blocking the flow of water, as were all the gutters. Heavy rains could not flow away fast enough with this amount of debris and therefore overflows happened.
The client also had water ingress into one of the rooms. They asked us to investigate why but thought it was the full gutters causing the issue. We were told that it was a corner of the roof above where the leaking downpipe was. The roof is skillion; therefore, any water overflow from the gutters and downpipe could not be the cause. Water does not flow uphill.
We took photos of the roof and corner for the client to get in a roofer to further investigate what was causing the ingress.
Even though we could not find or fix the cause of the water ingress, we were able to provide photos for ongoing investigation. The gutters were cleaned and the downpipe stopped leaking.
Debris sitting on top of the gutter guard breaks down over time and falls into the gutter through the guard. Gutters do need cleaning so these issues do not occur, even with a gutter guard. Imagine a deluge of rain flowing down into the gutter in the image below with all that debris in the gutters.
Where is the water going to go?
Always remember, clean gutters are the key to looking after your property and making sure as much water is removed as possible when it rains. You do not want water damage inside your house.
