Glasgow Gutters

Glasgow Gutters is a local gutter firm, nothing fancy. Glen McGill runs it from Paisley and we do houses, plus all sorts of other buildings, across Glasgow and the towns round about. Most days it's new gutters going up.

We'll clean them and fix them as well though, and we'll take on near enough any gutter installation job you throw at us. You ask us something, you get a straight answer. We turn up when we said we would.

And we leave the place tidier than we found it, which isn't saying much, I know. Funny how often folk tell us that's not what they're used to.

If you've ended up on this page, odds are something's already gone wrong. Maybe the rain's pouring straight off the front of the house every time it comes on. Maybe there's a dark patch working its way down the wall by the back door.

Or you've just bought an older place and the gutters look like they went up before you were born. Could be any of those. We'll likely have seen it a hundred times, and usually we can tell you pretty quick what wants sorting and what you're fine to leave alone.

Why gutters matter so much in the west of Scotland

Anybody who lives round here knows the weather doesn't hold back. Weeks of steady drizzle, then one day it comes in sideways off the Clyde and doesn't let up till the next morning. Your gutters and downpipes get the brunt of it.

You'd not believe how much water one heavy shower throws off an ordinary roof, and quick too. It's all got to go somewhere.

When everything's working you barely notice it. Rain comes off the roof, into the gutter, down the pipe, away. Job done.

When it's not working, the water finds its own way down, and it's nearly always the wrong way. Sometimes it spills over the edge and soaks the wall below. Sometimes it gets in behind the fascia and the wood starts to rot.

Or it lands at the foot of the house and splashes back up the brick or the render. Leave that a few winters and you'll see it. Damp on the inside walls.

Paint peeling off. Maybe that musty smell in the corner of the bedroom that no amount of airing gets rid of.

Moss is the other big one. Our weather suits it down to the ground. It sits quite happily on slate and concrete tiles, then it breaks off in clumps and goes straight into the gutters.

Then there's the leaves off the trees, and most residential streets have plenty, plus whatever the birds drag in. By the end of autumn the gutter's half full of sludge.

Once it's blocked it holds water. Gets heavy. Starts to sag, and sooner or later the joints let go.

A fair few of the new gutter jobs we do now started off as a blockage nobody got round to sorting.

New gutters: our main line of work

Honestly, fitting new gutters is the bit we like best. It's also where we can make the biggest difference to a house. Put a decent new system in, sized right and set at the proper fall, and it'll just get on with it quietly for a long time.

Give it the odd clean. That's about it.

When we come out we've got to decide whether it's new gutters or a repair, and there's a few things we look for. Sections sagging or pulling off the fascia, even after the lads have had a go at the brackets. Cracks and splits running along the length, not just the one dodgy joint.

Old cast iron rusted right through in places, or patched that many times there's more sealant on it than metal. Plastic that's gone brittle and faded after years of sun and frost. Gutters that were too small for the roof in the first place, which you see more than you'd think on extensions and dormer conversions.

Then downpipes that have been knocked, cracked or come away at the joint, so the water just dumps on the path. If it's just one or two of those in a small area, a repair's maybe all you need, and we'll say so.

If it's the whole length of the house, or the system's that old that patching one bit just pushes the problem along to the next joint, then new gutters usually make more sense. We'd rather be straight with you than talk you into a bigger job than you need.

What happens when we fit new gutters

First off, somebody comes out. Glen or one of the lads will have a proper look at the roof edge, the fascias and the downpipes. We'll ask you a few things as well.

Where does it spill over? Any damp showing inside? Has anyone had a go at the gutters before?

Half the time what you tell us is as useful as what we see from up the ladder.

Then we measure up and work out where the water needs to go, and whether your outlets and downpipes are where they should be. Some houses need an extra downpipe to cope with the rain they get. Long runs, steep roofs, that sort of thing.

Now and again the fascia behind the old gutter's gone rotten, and if it has we'll tell you at the start, not halfway through. After that we go over the options with you, colour and style and all, so the new gutters look like they belong on the house and not like an afterthought.

On the day we take the old ones down carefully and clear the lot away. New brackets go up at the right spacing and the right fall, so the water heads for the outlets instead of sitting in a puddle in the middle.

Then the gutter lengths go on, the joints, corners and stop ends, and we connect the downpipes. Last job is running water through the whole thing. If it's not flowing right we sort it there and then.

Not after you've rung us in the first storm. When we're finished we'll walk round the house with you and show you what we've done.

If we spotted anything on the way up that wants keeping an eye on, we'll tell you. Maybe a slate that's slipped. Maybe moss starting to get a hold on one side of the roof.

That kind of thing.

Gutter cleaning

Nine times out of ten all it needs is a clean, and sooner's better than later. We scoop out the moss, leaves, silt and whatever else has set up home in there, then check the downpipes are running clear. You can't see a blocked downpipe from the ground.

Give it a few minutes of proper rain though and your nice clean gutter's spilling over the edge regardless.

Plenty of our customers just get us out once a year. Late autumn, usually, once the leaves are down. Got big trees right next to the house?

Then you might want us round a bit more often. If one of the lads up the ladder sees something loose, cracked or leaking, he'll mention it. Happens more than you'd think, a clean catching a wee fault before it turns into a bigger bill.

Gutter repair

Doesn't always mean a whole new system. Leaky joints, cracked lengths, snapped brackets, downpipes that have come away from the wall. That's our bread and butter, honestly, every week.

One dripping joint doesn't sound like much. But leave water hitting the same bit of wall for months and it'll do damage.

We'll track down where the leak's actually coming from (funny enough, it's not always where the water shows) and sort it properly.

Gutter installation

It's not just old gutters off, new ones on. We'll fit them where there's never been any, or where the layout needs changed. Extensions, garages, porches, garden rooms, outbuildings.

Or a house that's had roof work done and now the old guttering doesn't fit. Same care as any new gutter gets. Measure it right, get the fall right, and make sure the water ends up where it should.

Where we work

We're based in Paisley but we get about a fair bit further than that. All over the west of Scotland, really. Glasgow, obviously.

In the city it's mostly tenements and terraces, then once you get out a bit it turns into semis and bungalows. We'll do any of it.

We cover Paisley, Bishopbriggs, Cambuslang, Clydebank, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Newton Mearns too, and they've all got their own wee problems. The old sandstone houses in bits of Glasgow and Paisley, for a start. Loads of them still have the original cast iron gutters on, painted that many times you'd lose count of the coats, and a good few are just about done.

Bishopbriggs and Newton Mearns, it's trees. Big old ones sat in folk's back gardens, so there's more leaves coming down and the gutters block up quicker than you'd think.

Cumbernauld and East Kilbride are a different story again. A lot of the houses there went up round about the same time, so the original plastic gutters are all packing in together. We'll fix one and the neighbour's got the exact same fault.

Then the one next door to them. Clydebank and Cambuslang are down near the river, and if your house catches the wind and rain coming up the valley your gutters get more of a battering than most.

Knowing that stuff helps us. Jobs go quicker and the quote's usually nearer the mark.

If you're not sure we come out your way, just give us a ring and ask. Anywhere near and we can normally sort something out. Or if you'd rather have a look at what we do first, there's affordable gutter services in Glasgow on our website, with a bit more on each of the services there.

Opening hours and booking

We're open 9 AM to 6 PM, Monday to Saturday, and shut on Sundays. The quickest way to get booked in is to ring us on 014 1266 0185 and tell us what's happening. Maybe there's water coming over the front every time it rains.

Maybe a length round the back has started to sag. Or you've just twigged that nobody's been up a ladder to look at your gutters in years. That's fine too, honestly.

We'll sort out a time that works for you and come out.

If you can, let us know roughly what sort of property it is, how many storeys, and where the trouble seems to be. A photo taken from the ground helps as well. You don't need any of that, mind.

Half the folk who phone us have no idea what's wrong, and that's no bother at all. Working it out is what we're there for.

A lot of people are at work all day, which is why we do Saturdays. If you'd like to be home when we turn up, just say and we'll do our best to work round you. Truth is, for most outside jobs you don't need to be in.

As long as the lads can get down the sides and round the back, they'll get on with it and give you a shout after.

If you'd like to see where we are before you ring, you can find our gutter team in Glasgow on Google Maps. It'll show you how to get to our base in Paisley as well.

A few honest words before you ring

Nobody enjoys spending money on gutters. They're not a new kitchen, and you won't get the neighbours popping round to admire them. Fair enough.

But once they go, putting right the damage can cost a good bit more than the gutters ever did. Fascias rot. Walls get damp and the render ends up stained.

Leave water pooling in the same spot long enough and you could have bother at the foundations and the drains too, and that's another bill altogether.

So get them looked at sooner rather than later, that's our advice. A lot of the time all they need is a clean and a check over. Sometimes a wee repair gets you years more out of them.

Now and again, though, the kindest thing we can tell you is that the old system's had it, and new gutters will save you a load of hassle down the line. Either way we'll be straight with you.

Rain been giving your gutters a hard time this year? Give us a ring and we'll come out and have a look.

Glasgow Gutters
4 Hawkhead Ave
Paisley
PA2 7BT
Phone: 014 1266 0185