Ultra violet rays from the sun make plastic gutters brittle, causing them to shatter and crack. These same rays also weaken the brackets, causing the gutter to sag and pond. This allows mosses and lichen to build up, leading to overspill. The rubber seals at the joints, corners and ends perish within a few years. This coupled with the constant thermal movement causes the joints to part and leak. If untreated these problems can culminate to give you rotten roof timbers and sometimes even worse!!!
Cast Iron gutters rust at the back, where they are difficult to maintain. The joints break down and split, the fixing screws and bolts erode away, the hanging rafter brackets become weakened and bend under the immense weight. All these factors combine to make the heavy cast extremely unstable. This often results in large sections of gutter falling! WITH NO PRIOR WARNING!!! The most commonly used domestic gutters have a half round profile, which is the least effective shape for water carrying and can lead to overspill.
As all straight runs are manufactured in one piece, there are few joints to leak, see our mobile factory.
Aluminium has a very low coefficient in expansion/contraction with heat. The combination of these two factors eliminate the main cause of leakage that occurs with plastic gutters. Ultraviolet light does not affect the coating on aluminium gutters to the same degree as plastic, so fading is minimal and Armada Seamless Gutters retain their good looks and great strength for many years. As our gutters are coated both sides with a polyester finish mosses have difficulty in establishing a hold, and the high quality of this coating gives the gutter an extremely long life.
Armada Seamless Guttering is strong and light. With its long life, good looks, high flow capacity and low maintenance it is the most effective guttering system on the market today. With its OGEE shape Armadas’ Seamless Aluminium Guttering gives a greater water depth, increasing the carrying capacity by as much as 3 times that of domestic half round gutters - and 53% more water than the Deepflow type of plastic gutter.
Seamless Aluminium |
Plastic (uPVC) |
| No unsightly seams or joints | Seamed and jointed throughout |
| Unaffected by thermal expansion, will not shatter or crack |
Affected by thermal expansion, will shatter and crack |
| Good colour retention | Discolours very quickly |
| Wider choice of colours | Limited choice of colours |
| Can withstand heavy snow, ice loading and ladder impact |
Incapable of withstanding heavy weights |
| Fully tested finishes with life expectancy over 30 years |
Limited lifespan |
| 3 times water carrying capacity of conventional plastic systems |
Prone to overflowing |
| Installed by seamless guttering specialists | Gutter fitted as secondary occupation |
| Fully recyclable | Non-recyclable |