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Fitting PVC guttering to reduce creaking noises


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My main concern with plastic (PVC) guttering and downpipes is the creaking noises they make as they heat up and cool down. That made me wonder if anyone here new of was to minimise the chances of such noises?

 

Do the creaks generally come from the gutter brackets and the downpipe clips?

 

One thought that occurred to me is around the lengths of sections. Before I thought about creaking, I thought fitting as long sections as possible, but I now think that could make the creaking worse. You can get 5.5m downpipes long enough to do the whole vertical. Given expansion gaps are at the ends of sections, the maximum movement will be proportional to the length of the section. PVC has a thermal expansion coefficient of 50 ppm/C [1] which means as 5.5m section will expand 2.75mm per 10C temperature change -- CREAK! ☹️

If you were to make up the same distance in 4 sections then the maximum expansion would be reduced by a factor of 4 (0.7mm per 10C) and hopefully less creaking ?

I can't imagine wanting to use sections of gutter less than 2m long so they would still expand 1mm per 10C. Still makes for a lot more unions though.

 

[1] https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pipes-temperature-expansion-coefficients-d_48.html

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Yes, plastic guttering does tend to “creak” and I find it very annoying! but I found that it’s mostly the guttering being too tight in the brackets and the creaking is it’s not sliding within the bracket when it warms up or cools down. What I do (and have done on several properties with success including my self build) is to shave a little from the gutter with a Stanley knife where it sits in the bracket, only half a mil or so, I even do it on the back side in case it can be seen from the front (OCD). My guttering is black, mostly full length and south facing and even during last years short heat wave I suffered no creaking at all ?
 

just had a thought, perhaps spud peelers like this would do a good job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-Steel-Potato-Peeler-Fruit-Vegetable-Spud-Speed-Slicer-French-Cutter

Edited by joe90
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10 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Yes, plastic guttering does tend to “creak” but I found that it’s mostly the guttering being too tight in the brackets and the creaking is it’s not sliding within the bracket when it warms up or cools down. What I do (and have done on several properties with success including my self build) is to shave a little from the gutter with a Stanley knife where it sits in the bracket, only half a mil or so, I even do it on the back side in case it can be seen from the front (OCD). My guttering is black, south facing and even during last years short heat wave I suffered no creaking at all ?

 

That sounds great. If I follow you, you are cutting where I have circled below? I guess it's a trade off with making it too loose that it's not secure.

 

Did you fit long sections of guttering (e.g. 4m)?

 

 

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5 minutes ago, MortarThePoint said:

cutting where I have circled below?

Yes

5 minutes ago, MortarThePoint said:

Did you fit long sections of guttering (e.g. 4m)?

Yes. ?

 

I didn’t do anything with down pipes as in my experience I only found creaking came from the guttering it self!

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1 hour ago, MortarThePoint said:

 

Lots of the installation guides use silicone spray and I thought that was more for ease of installation. I've also heard of people using vaseline. But as Joe90 says it could make for an annual ritual.

 

Vaseline may rot the "rubber"?

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