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Home > Archive > Building and Construction > December 2007 > An alternative to gutters. Wanting to tear mine off!
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An alternative to gutters. Wanting to tear mine off!
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| I am in a desperate need for suggestions on an alternative to a
standard gutter system...
We had gutters installed on our home about 3 years ago. Behind our
house is a slight incline so a good Alabama summer rain made a pond
back there... plus, termites love moisture and the more water we kept
away from the house, the better.
We got them on and they looked and worked great... less than a year
later (And yes, I cleaned them every other month) they began to sag.
And water began to seep out behind the gutters, pretty much ruining
the facia wood around the house. I called the gutter installer,
offering to PAY to have the angle of these gutter fixed so they
drain... never returned my calls. Call after call (even a report to
the BBB) and nothing. My contracintg pal heard the guy went out of
business. So be it.
This wasnt just in one location, but about 3 spots all around the
house. Even in non-sagging places, the facia wood is looking awful,
almost water logged.
Cleaning them is of course a pain, and a nice discovery is that it
doesnt take long for cockroaches to make homes up there.
So, when I get a tax return this spring, I plan on ripping the gutters
off and replacing the awful looking facia board (that kept quite well
before the gutters).
My desire is to come up with perhaps a different solution to
channeling water away from my foundation. I can see maybe getting some
new gutters for the back of the house, to avoid pond-city when it
rains... but the front of the house is where I have termites and I
certainly hate to give them more water near my house... of course, I
have a small swarm each summer, so I dont see how much better the
gutters have helped...
Any french drain solution? Or certain types of plant that can soak up
a bunch of water around the house? Water running off near doors doesnt
bother me. We have an attached carport and never get a drop of rain on
us from the house to the car.. and friends and neighbors use our
carport door anyway, front door is opened like once a month.
Any suggestions from you pros out there is appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Jazz M.
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| PeterD 2007-12-10, 8:25 pm |
| On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:25:37 -0800 (PST), Jazz <jbraly@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I called the gutter installer,
>offering to PAY to have the angle of these gutter fixed so they
>drain... never returned my calls. Call after call (even a report to
>the BBB) and nothing. My contracintg pal heard the guy went out of
>business. So be it.
>
I'd think that getting properly installed gutters would solve your
problem nicely. You're condeming a solution based on one bad
installer!
Properly installed gutters can't leak on the back (the front of the
gutter is lower than the back, so water splills over the front),
properly installed gutters have slope towards the drain end(s) to
facilitate drainage. It sounds like yours are not sloped at all, and
somehow the rear fo the gutter is lower than the front (outside edge).
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| Craig M 2007-12-11, 3:25 am |
| Seamless gutters are one way to go, get them installed properly and they
will serve you well, collect the water and save it for the dry season, if
you can, I have been thinking of that, keep the water bill down, that would
be a good way to go. There is a system
called Rain Handler, it mounts under the drip edge, and sprays the water
away from the house.
Dont know these 2 idea will help, just some info I have heard of.
"PeterD" <peter2@hipson.net> wrote in message
news:11krl35mignbjfk6ur9fv76i8b4l513rn7@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:25:37 -0800 (PST), Jazz <jbraly@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> I'd think that getting properly installed gutters would solve your
> problem nicely. You're condeming a solution based on one bad
> installer!
>
> Properly installed gutters can't leak on the back (the front of the
> gutter is lower than the back, so water splills over the front),
> properly installed gutters have slope towards the drain end(s) to
> facilitate drainage. It sounds like yours are not sloped at all, and
> somehow the rear fo the gutter is lower than the front (outside edge).
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| The gutters I have are seamless... just poorly installed, plus they
installed industrial 6 inch gutters.. they sold me on them because
they carry more water... i learned later you cant adjust big ones like
this...
WIll look into rain handlers... thanks!
On Dec 10, 10:37 pm, "Craig M" <craig_6...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Seamless gutters are one way to go, get them installed properly and they
> will serve you well, collect the water and save it for the dry season, if
> you can, I have been thinking of that, keep the water bill down, that would
> be a good way to go. There is a system
> called Rain Handler, it mounts under the drip edge, and sprays the water
> away from the house.
> Dont know these 2 idea will help, just some info I have heard of."PeterD" <pet...@hipson.net> wrote in message
>
> news:11krl35mignbjfk6ur9fv76i8b4l513rn7@4ax.com...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
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