[Closed] (Dull) gutters/ downpipe question :-/

Chimney rods to break it up, perhaps.

I had exactly the same situation last week. It was a 10 minute job for the roofer who popped over.

Boring answer. Get a man in

If they are plastic they will pull apart incredibly easily. But yes, if you're not happy up a ladder, get someone in.

Thanks - would you expect the gutter clearing person to suck soil from the downpipe too or literally just clear the gutter?

I can’t really afford to get another person in :-/

#damn mid life crisis mature student blah moan used to have a job like

depends where it is blocked.

take off the downpipe and have a look.

mine of blocked below ground (there was a 1ft plug of earth and roots above hte base of the downpipe!) and therefore i will need a cctv crew to high pressure jet and root cut the blockage. maybe even excavate a new soakaway.

As i'm a cheapskate and have a nice flow path around my house to the garden i've cut a hole at the base of the downpipe to stop it overtopping. As a plus side the honeysuckle at the end of the flow pathway is doing magnificently.

You could try and push one of these up from the bottom. https://m.clasohlson.com/uk/Drain-Unblocker/30-8666 , available from loads of places. Not super sturdy so it won't push out a root ball but should clear a plug of soil

take off the downpipe and have a look.

Unfortunately there’s the weird S bend in the pipe at the top.

The drain unblocker could work but might be a bit short? I tried the hose pipe several times but it wouldn’t get round the s bend bit..

(I have taken the bottom section off for my hosepipe experimentation so am pretty sure the blockage is at the top )

Catapult a mole onto the roof, then tie a carrot, or whatever moles like to eat at the bottom of the pipe. Sit back and wait.

surely the soak away will be compromised.

A tree root is normally the culprit. Had to do it a few years back; find where the soak away is (easier said than done, but you can often work it out by digging where the down pipe enters the ground, find the angle the underground horizontal pipe takes, then follow that 5-10m). Dig down 1 ft or so, and you'll find gravel/rocks etc/ That's the soakaway. You'll find the end of the underground pipe, and there'll probably be a root growing up it. Cut it up, pull it out. Build a better soak away, cover it up etc. Then put hedgehog in the gutters .

It's messy and hard. So you can pay someone instead

I cleared one yesterday (we have a tiled roof that moss likes to grow on which then gets into the gutters and blocks them).
There's a 40cm piece of an angled downpipe coming off the gutter that then goes straight down - the angled section was full of moss/soil and I couldn't take it apart as the sections have been connected by [now rusted] screws.
In the end I found that a piece of old curtain track would go around the bends nicely so I could push it through and, in conjunction with water squeezed from a 2L bottle I took up, it cleared the blockage in a few mins. Took some trial and error figuring out what would get around the bends though.

If none of the above are of use for whatever reason try tapping it as hard as you dare. You can often work the blockage clear

It also help if there's a backlog of water in the gutter waiting to go down - this helps push the crap through once it's dislodged.

It’s thanks to the likes of Kayak23 that we put a man on the moon, you know.

😂

Catapult a mole onto the roof, then tie a carrot, or whatever moles like to eat at the bottom of the pipe. Sit back and wait.

REALLY HELPFUL THANKS

(Have you tried catching a mole in this weather?!)

I had a tennis ball stuck in mine!!

Found 4 other tennis balls in the guttering when cleaning it out as well. Bloody kids....

Cut the down pipe near the bottom / chest height, insert inspection hatch section.
Use flexible chimney rods and insert from the bottom with no tool on.

Prepare for this as a result.

Rather than just pushing the hose up the pipe, you could try sealing it to the bottom of the pipe. Find a plastic bottle that just fits onto the downpipe (wrap sticky tape round it if too small), and similarly fit the hose to the neck of the bottle. The bottle needs to be firmly fixed in the pipe, preferably support the bottle off the ground to stop it moving. Then fill the whole pipe with water and see if the pressure pushes the blockage out of the top. It might separate the joints on the S bends, but that might be a good thing? Beware that the downpipe full of water will be heavy and might break free and fall on you or whatever is about (is it plastic or metal?)

Stuff a couple of cans of lynx up the pipe and build a fire around it. Video and post results on here. If your pipe is plastic there may be some drop off in the effectiveness of this method however don't be deterred from trying.

With the bottom off to push the hose up (as you've already done) does it still over spill at the top with all the rain we've had?

If so, the blockage is in the bit you can't get to. Had the hopper overflowing on ours in the winter, a plug of moss/crap was sealing the down pipe.

Get a man in who's happy up a ladder!

If it's not up above, get the shovel out.

If ou can't afford to pay someone do you know someone willing with a ladder who you could then do a favour for? Barter so to speak. It's probably a 5 - 10 min job. Wash their car while they do it or go round and clean their oven.

Had this with mine, blocked at the top downpipe offset from the guttering.
Split the offset and cleared out the blockage, got some of those guttering brushes that sit in the guttering to prevent leaves etc. lying in it.
Next problem was the downpipe was blocked nearer the bottom, cut into removed the leaves and muck and put back together with a spigot so it's easier to remove in future.