Roofing

Repairing/maintaining gutter boards and gutters with ground floor extension

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.16 PM

Hi We live in the ground floor flat of a victorian terrace. We are looking to build a rear extension with a flat roof and a side return extension with a pitched roof. Our upstairs neighbour says that, "If [the side extension roof] were flat it would make maintenance of the gutters, gutter boards and wall easier and safer than it is now, but the slope creates problems with the maintenance of the building (making it virtually impossible without scaffold) and I therefore cannot be in favour of it." She is insistent that we have a flat roof for the side extension, which is entirely impractical for our purpose of using the side return as a kitchen, being limited to a party wall height of just over 2m by the council. Our side return extension will have a 3m long light well, which would allow for maintenance of some of the wall using ladders or towers. Can the gutters and gutter boards be maintained from the roof, instead of using a ladder/tower or scaffolding from below in instances where it cannot be reached from the ground? Most side returns seem to have pitched roofs and have much smaller light wells. How do these properties repair and maintain their guttering? Could a counter balanced tower be used to stretch over the side extension to maintain the guttering above, or would scaffolding be necessary as she claims, if it is necessary to maintain gutters from the ground up? Many thanks for your help. Grant