We have a two storey home that has a single run gutter system (120′) with no down spouts in the front of the house, only one in the rear. We like the aesthetics of having no spout in the front. However, this has caused problems as the rain water overflows every now and then at the front door (start of the run) and flows on to the sidewalk. As we live in Edmonton and it gets cold here, the water turns to ice leaving the side walk slippery. We had a contractor look at our system and the only suggestions were to install a downspout in the front and cover it with a trellis. This does not work. The other option would be realign the entire run from the front to the back. This would cause the run in the back of the house to be 6″ lower than it is currently. This is not aesthetically pleasing, plus there would have to be a significant amount of work done to the fascia. Any suggestions on options that we could try.
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Maybe you could talk God into making it rain only on the neighbor's roof.
Excellence is its own reward!
We've got the same length of run on the second story with just one drop and don't have any problems with it running over, but........ what's mounted up there is 5" half-round (on a Vic) and the drop at the back of the house is 6" PVC, painted to match the siding. We also opted for this one large drop rather than several including one on the front. No regrets either.
The gutter slopes both ways from center at the front of the house as a soldered joint is located there and allowed that type of arrangement. At no point is it lower than the fascia.
When we have those toad-stranglers, the output end of that 6" looks like a firehose.
Despite a few large trees and a minimum of slope, the gutter never plugs with trash. I think it's because the half-round cleans itself better than box gutter does.
I have seen arrangements where two drops were placed nearly side by side to provide faster relief to prevent the type of run over you're experiencing, but maybe this has already been considered and there isn't room for this around the back because of windows,etc.
You really need a downspout in front - No doubt in my mind.
But if you're not willing to live with that, I have one other thought. Where the gutter is overflowing above your door, raise the elevation of the gutter. That will cause the water to flow downhill so it runs over somewhere else.
Not a good solution, but it will keep the water off the sidewalk.
Power does corrupt. Just run a good cross-current past your data cables, you'll see. [Ari Rapkin]
Thank you
jek.. you do need more downspouts..
but , also, you say the front door is the start of the run.. obviously this means it should be teh high point of the gutter.. also seems ( since it is running over there ) that it is the low point of the system.. unless there is something on the roof ( like a valley ) that is dumping right there and causing the overflow..
check out your pitches with a can of water ( or a laser ) and find out FIRST if everything is as it should be..
bottom line is still.. you need more downspouts.. why not at the front corners .. it the traditional location ..
and.. as goldhiller says.. a larger gutter has more capacity... when we have large roofs and limited downspouts , we chage from regular gutter to 6" gutter
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 10/31/2002 1:53:45 PM ET by Mike Smith