Do You Need New Gutters This Spring?

Daniel Bracewell • 24 March 2021

Spring is a great time for fresh starts. Bu while the natural world gives us new blooms of flowers, frogspawn, ducklings and lambs, it is also important to carry out a thorough inspection of the outside of your home.

This will have been a harder thing to do during the dark, wet, windy and occasionally snowy days of winter. But now spring is upon us, the time will have come to check everything from your brickwork to your roof tiles.

It can be easy to miss your guttering unless there is already an obvious problem, such as major overflowing. The main build-up of debris in gutters is most likely to be leaves deposited during autumn, which will decay but not necessarily enough to prevent blockages and water displacement.

Ideally, you should check your gutters every month to make sure they are in good order and not blocked by anything, which can include dead birds and animals as well as leaves.

However, there are many other problems with gutters that can be spotted at any time of year, many of them caused not by neglected debris but structural issues.

Among these are sagging, caused by the pipe-supporting brackets being placed too far apart. This makes them more vulnerable to sagging when autumn debris adds weight to them.

Another is leaks caused by breaks, which usually appear around joints in the pipes, and gaps, which are caused by temperature changes as the metal expands in the warmth and contracts in colder weather.

While some work can be undertaken by skilled DIY people, the best move is to bring in professionals who know how to carry out repairs to existing gutters, or replace parts entirely when this is necessary.

The saying that you should “fix the roof when the sun shines” applies to gutters too. If you can get them back in shape in spring or summer, they will be in a good, robust state for when the weather turns later in the year.

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Can You Install Solar Panels On A Flat Roof?

by Daniel Bracewell • 10 December 2025

If you’re exploring how to lower your energy bills and reduce your carbon footprint, you may be looking at the likes of solar panels for your home. But what if your property has a flat roof rather than a pitched roof? Can you still install solar panels on a flat roof? The short answer is yes, you can! In fact, it is often easier to install solar panels on a flat roof than it is to fit them to a sloped roof, which might make this an even more appealing avenue to explore when you’re looking at flat roof ideas . In many cases, you also don’t need planning permission to install solar panels on your flat roof. Of course, there are exceptions if you have a listed building or live in a conservation area, but if you own your house (different rules apply for flats too), you should be free to add solar panels to your home as you choose. There are different kinds of mounting systems for flat roof solar panels and which is most appropriate for your home will depend on the direction it faces. It is worth noting that the cost of installing solar panels is often higher on flat roofs because of the mounting system, but some of this can be offset by the lower labour costs because the installation process is usually more straightforward. One of the main reasons homeowners install solar panels is to reduce their energy bills. Many report savings of hundreds of pounds each year, which means these panels often pay for themselves relatively quickly. What’s more, under the Smart Export Guarantee , you can sell any energy you don’t use back to the National Grid, which can increase the rate at which your investment in solar panels pays for itself. So, if you are exploring ways to make the most of your flat roof, consider solar panels as an option to reduce your energy bills and do good for the environment.