[mogy]

Hi All
  Youve all seen  em  , cast iron gutters , bolted at the  joints ,    when you have a leaking , joint and now  completly rusted through bolt, does any of you  go to ther trouble of  drilling the  rusted remains  of  bolt out and replacing , or do you all just  part the  two now seperate halves, wipe clean and slap some  waterproof sea;er on ?
I rather guess the latter , so will that be a good enough job ?

 Mogy ,       

[pjulk]

We just clean them.
If they are broken we let the owner know that they need to get someone out to repair it

Paul

[DaveWilkinson]

Cut the bolt at the bottom with a Jr hacksaw, prise apart the joint and clean it off with a wire brush, apply window putty to the bottom of the top gutter and put a new galv nut and bolt in.

This will last for years and is how they were installed originally if done correctly. Modern gutter sealants are ok but dont last very long and are a pain to use in the wet.

Be very carfull when working on cast gutters, they are very heavy and more than likley been on there for years and the wood holding them or the brakets will be weak. Its not uncommon for a whole gutter run to come crashing down while working on one section.

[window pain]

Cut the bolt at the bottom with a Jr hacksaw, prise apart the joint and clean it off with a wire brush, apply window putty to the bottom of the top gutter and put a new galv nut and bolt in.

This will last for years and is how they were installed originally if done correctly. Modern gutter sealants are ok but dont last very long and are a pain to use in the wet.

Be very carfull when working on cast gutters, they are very heavy and more than likley been on there for years and the wood holding them or the brakets will be weak. Its not uncommon for a whole gutter run to come crashing down while working on one section.

what dave has said is correct, the only thing to add is , when tightening the spouting bolt, be careful  the cast iron gutter dosen't crack  which can happen if you tighten the bolt to much.

[mogy]

Thanks guys , for that input ,   my question , was as i soon found out was based on my first  close up  with cast guttering, and as it turned out , that  guttering was  diferent to  most, in that there wasnt a nut and bold holding the  lengths together .   There was a tapped bottom bit , so my question of weather anyone  drilled out the  rusted in bols , prob doesnt realy apply to  most .
I found a sealant that can be used  in wet conditions , seemed to work ok , time  will tell.
Ihad another prob, the customer  enquired about my  public liability ,   Yep " got a million pounds worth" , ..but in windowcleaning ..mmmmm   he  was  a stickler  for it being right , and , ive yet to resolve  this.                                               Anyone else  have  apropriate  insurance  ?
  Mogy

[Robert Parry]

RE: Public Liability Insurance

You really do need to add this service to your policy, if anything goes wrong, I suspect that you would be hung out to dry, as it were, not sure if your present insurer, will cover you, but you could ask a local facia, guttering company about theirs.

Regards,

Rob

[Dick]

I think that Liability insurance is based on what trade you do most of, so if window cleaning is your major form of work/income the odd repair work should be ok. But of course with all insurance it's best to check to make sure in the event of a claim you want them to pay up.
Dick

[pjulk]

I think that Liability insurance is based on what trade you do most of

Its not.
If you cleaned someones gutters out and maybe made a section loose and had not realised and that part of gutter leaked and caused the house to get damp the insurance company are not going to pay out as they will say you are insured for windows but not gutters.

When you get insurance its best to tell them about all the jobs you do and then you will get the correct cover.

Paul