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1. 
   Piffin | Oct 30, 2008 01:56pm | #1

   we have always just gone direct with the PL.

   However, I have spent a lot of time going back over wood gutters we've installed over the past fifteen years this summer and fall, on maint and repairs. i'm finding about 25% of the corner joints openned slightly. Most of them just enough to leak a few drips.

   So going forward, I think I would use epoxy to end seal, and then geocel for the glue. It is really a caulk, but acts a lot like a glue and has a lot of expansion to handle the stresses there and stay waterproof. You could even make the whole joint with epoxy depending on the situation.

    

    

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1. 
   TommH | Oct 30, 2008 07:48pm | #3

   The old time method, before super adhesives, was to chisel out a little   channel at the joint, fill it with some roofing tar, and tack in a strip of lead into the channel. Kind of like a bandaide over the joint. Actually saw Norm do it in a very early TOH.  Mine are like that (all in some state of failure). Am I correct that the lead strip is no longer used and that the joints are just glued and screwed? BTW, I replaced a mitered return about 20 years ago using lexel as the adhesive and it has held up fine. My plan for some other needed repairs is to soak the endgrain cuts with a low viscosity epoxy and then glue and screw using a heavy duty epoxy glue like System Three T-88. Any thoughts?

1. 
   Piffin | Oct 30, 2008 08:04pm | #4

   I'vev been doing alot this year, and seen some of what I did ten years ago.The old method was fine when tended and checked and updated every year. Nobody does that anymore. It is all you can do to talk them into cleaning the leaves out.The nails holding the lead loosen and back out after a couple years, water gets under it, and lifts it to make a pucker-bubble that retains trash and promotes rot. I dig the nails and lead out, scrape the tar gone, use a cup brush or wire brush wheel on the grinder and drills to clean the wood. ( dust mask and eye protection a must. all the grit and a few wires will be hitting you in the face.)Any punky wood gets a treatment of low-viscosity epoxy. Git-Rot is a name brand. Some wood I treated with it ten years back is still fine.Then the whole gutter gets either penofin oil, or same git rot or a slightly higher viscosity surfacing. A better chemical mask is a good idea that day. I mix and pour, then use a disposable 2" brush to keep it moving and re-wetting the upper edge walls of the gutterWhere there are spots where water wants to have puddled, my heat gun gets some duty drying the wood there first before all the epoxy work. After the GitRot kicks for a day or three, those low spots get a mix with solids to build it up so water will flow and not puddle. Occasionally a corner joint that has opened from rot or house settled, gets some FG tape, and build over with same epoxy with solids in. Ceramic beads, or sawdust for the filler. Either works. with some of those that have openned too far ( fairly rare) I have to make a damn of caulk or use duct tape on the bottom of the joint so the poxy mix doesn't all run out. 

    

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1. 
   Megunticook | Oct 31, 2008 06:32am | #5

   Thanks, Piffin, for the usual thorough set of tips and tricks from your bag.I have read a number of places, including the website of a mill that specializes in making redwood gutters, that the edge of the joints inside the trough can be beveled out with a rasp, so that you end up with a shallow depression or "V" shape along the joint, which is then filled with heavy duty flexible waterproof caulk. Supposedly this can be easily scraped out and replaced down the road as needed.I decided to go ahead and hit any exposed end grain with the Moorwhite primer first...figured it would be an extra layer of protection.And as you say, the key to avoiding issues down the road is regular maintenance every spring and fall.I'll post some pictures of the results (maybe some "in progress" shots, too) when I get 'er done.

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2. 
   theslateman | Oct 30, 2008 02:17pm | #2

   If you really want them to last then lining them with 16 oz. copper is a great way to go.

   These were done across the Bay from you on Vinalhaven

    

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