Gutter Replacement FAQ

New uPVC gutters and downpipes on a semi cost €600 to €1,900, fitted. Seamless aluminium is €1,200 to €3,400 and cast iron €2,100 to €7,500. The price guide has every job.

A day for most houses. A big detached house, scaffolding, cast iron or rotten fascia behind the gutters adds time. See how long it takes.

Not for an ordinary house. On a protected structure, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme run through the councils can help with repairs to historic rainwater goods such as cast iron. With SEAI's external wall insulation grant, the gutters and downpipes have to come off and go back anyway, so plan them together.

Very little. The old gutters come down in lengths and leave in the company's van, and the ground is swept at the end of the day. All the work is outside.

Ask for it in writing with the price: the company's guarantee on the workmanship, and the maker's on the gutters and their colour.

One gutter company that covers your county. They look at the house, price it in writing and do the work. Your details go to one company only.

A leaking joint or a loose bracket is a repair: €80 to €450. If the gutter leaks in several places, sags along its length or is brittle and faded, replacing the run costs less in the end. See repair or replace.

Yes. Dublin has its own site for every gutter job, repairs, cleaning and replacement: guttersdublin.ie. The Dublin page here covers replacement.

Dark uPVC gutters expand and contract by several millimetres along each length as temperatures change. When rubber union seals dry out or brackets are screwed beyond their expansion marks, the length binds and releases with an audible crack.

Standard half-round uPVC requires fascia brackets at no more than 800 mm to 1,000 mm centres, reduced to 600 mm centres on steep slate roofs, exposed Atlantic coasts, and high ground where wet snow slides against the front lip.

Instead of clipping 4-metre plastic lengths together with rubber unions every few metres, a roll-forming machine inside the installer's van forms one continuous aluminium trough from a pre-coated coil to the exact length of your eaves, leaving joints only at corners and outlets.

Yes. Water overflowing behind the gutter or escaping from a split downpipe saturates the external masonry leaf and can bridge the wall cavity at lintels or wall ties, showing up as damp patches or peeling paint inside.

On Protected Structures or properties within an Architectural Conservation Area, planning guidance generally expects like-for-like cast iron or heritage cast aluminium with traditional spigot-and-socket joints rather than glossy plastic.

A subtle fall of roughly 1 in 350 to 1 in 500 (about 2 mm to 3 mm per metre) toward the running outlet helps water and fine roof grit clear cleanly without visible tilting along the fascia line.