Most high front guttering installed with spring clip systems in Australia does not comply with Australian building codes and Australian Standards. This roll formed guttering pushes water back into the cavity under certain conditions, causing rots and damage to wall materials. This is one of the causes of Leaky Building Syndrome in Australia.

The questionable practice of eliminating weep holes has also crept in, associated with the new lightweight panels and watertight finishes. We have reported elsewhere on the insidious destruction, litigation and damages this practice has caused overseas. 

Catastrophic failure of internal plastered walls cannot be avoided when you combine cavity flooding from faulty guttering systems with no drainage because weep holes have been eliminated.

We have inspected an impressive beachside home at Waterman in Western Australia built without weep holes. When a faulty box gutter dumped water into the cavity the gyprock internal walls failed, flooding the house and causing severe damage and significant repair costs.

Three of the links below take you to important investigative articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Kelly Burke has done a great job exposing the faulty guttering time bomb.

Architects say Gutter Risk Remains 30/3/09

New Gutters Bring Down the House 2/2/09

Gremlins Behind the Walls 23/2/08