I’m a first-time poster who’s enjoyed this forum for years. We’re also in the midst of designing a new retirement home in southwestern Ohio and have question about gutters.
Here’s a brief review:
The site slopes away at the back of house, with the roofline approximately 30 ft above grade.
There is no horizontal surface on which to place a ladder for routine cleaning of gutters.
We’ve not found any foolproof gutter guards being touted in Breaktime discusssions.
In recent vacation to western New York, we saw several high end homes without any gutters at all. The area was near Jamestown, which regularly sees lake effect snowfall in excess of 150+” per year.
The splash area under the roofline was approximately 2 ft wide and consisted of coarse river gravel.
The homeowner we collared reported no problems after several years. He also emphasized the extensive foundation drain system as part of the construction.
So please wade in on the pluses and minuses of no gutters. Are we crazy for considering this setup?
Replies
Are there, or will there be tall trees near your house?
Are there dormers on your roof that will concentrate water in certain areas?
How high above grade will your foundation extend?
How wide are your roof overhangs?
No trees within 50 feet.
We come up with a drained roof area of approximately 2800 ft2. No dormers at this stage.The site slopes, so the foundation can be as much as 9 ft above grade.Roof overhangs are mimimal, approximately 12 inches.
i hate gutters.. even though we install a lot of them
whenever i get the option i try to design them out of the house... most times we succeed
our house has no gutters and a dry basement
sometimes they serve a legitimate purpose.. like keeping roof runoff from a particular area.. like a deck.. or walkway
but most of the time they are unneccessaryMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
With no trees the debris buildup in the gutters would be minimal, but it sounds like you don't have anything that would make gutters necessary. Like Piffin said, they often cause more problems than they solve.
Thanks, Mike. You're building our confidence in removing the gutters, at least on the back side.Any comments about our 12" overhang? If we should extend it, what do you recommend?
More is always better, but 12" isn't bad at all. Make a splash zone of crushed stone and keep your siding a foot or two above grade. Run a "french drain" in the splash zone to take water away from the house. Basically you're putting your gutter in the ground.
Edited 9/23/2007 4:39 pm ET by Mike_Maines
Your mention of the French drain agrees with what we've heard from people here in Cincinnati. Lots 'o rocks and a good slope!
NW Oh. and in the woods. Sloping site. No gutters.
2 story-2' overhang, stone a couple feet from the foundation.
Concentrate on your below (and above) grade drainage. A swail uphill and around house is a smart addition to the good underground tile. Divide and conquer the water that will be introduced around your home. Take the uphill water away b/4 it gets to your underground drainage system.
Best of luck.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Gutters are only needed when a house is otherwise poorly designed with a roofline that does not adequately direct water flow. They can easily cause more problems than they solve.
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Steevo,
no gutters means that wherever the rain falls off the roof you will have some sort of erosion. you may have dealt with it with gravel under the drip line and as long as rain drains away from the house you'll be ok.. however grass won't grow where rain drops.
we get about 70 inches of rain a year, I have never had gutters on a house, my splash is two foot concrete around the house, keep from weed eating.Haga su trabajo de fricken
sure grass will grow... if you can get it started.. it will grow fine.. we get about 50" a year
View Image
one trick is to use sod in the drip lines
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 9/23/2007 9:44 pm ET by MikeSmith
Mike Smith,
I had grass growing nicely under my roof edge on the front of my house (check out chateau du Dampier) the recent rains came and washed it all away. I'd thought that with a round rolled edge roof the rain would be pretty well disapated so I hadn't planned on gutters there. Now I suddenly need to rethink how to hang gutters on a round rolled roof.
Does anyone here have any experience with RainHandlers" as an alternative to gutters? The concept sounds good if they work as advertised.http://www.rainhandler.com/index.html