Advertisement
The addition is done, and Dad is moved in. Things are cozy...except for one problem.
We've been having a lot of rain lately, and the gutters by the back door keep overflowing. It's definitely a case of too much roof and not enough gutter.
I've put pictures of it up on my profile...
people.tribe.net/26cf40a9-...641/photos
As you can see, two gutters come together at right angles, but neither one is big enough for the amount of water coming down the roof. The downspout drains into a rain garden, not into the sewer line. The gutters and downspout are clear and free-flowing. The overflow problem happens right where the wiring is...and that's not a good thing.
I've been trying to come up with some ideas as to how to take care of this problem.
I thought about putting up bigger gutters, and adding a downspout to the gutter on the old part of the house (the part with the old aluminum siding). Only problem with adding the downspout is that I couldn't just drain it near where the downspout would be. The water would go into the driveway, which doesn't have a drain, and would end up in the garage. I'd probably have to run something under the porch so it could drain away from the foundation. Luckily the porch is about 3' from the ground, so there's room. What would be a good thing to use? A downspout piece? Flexible tubing?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
WW
We've been having a lot of rain lately, and the gutters by the back door keep overflowing. It's definitely a case of too much roof and not enough gutter.
I've put pictures of it up on my profile...
people.tribe.net/26cf40a9-...641/photos
As you can see, two gutters come together at right angles, but neither one is big enough for the amount of water coming down the roof. The downspout drains into a rain garden, not into the sewer line. The gutters and downspout are clear and free-flowing. The overflow problem happens right where the wiring is...and that's not a good thing.
I've been trying to come up with some ideas as to how to take care of this problem.
I thought about putting up bigger gutters, and adding a downspout to the gutter on the old part of the house (the part with the old aluminum siding). Only problem with adding the downspout is that I couldn't just drain it near where the downspout would be. The water would go into the driveway, which doesn't have a drain, and would end up in the garage. I'd probably have to run something under the porch so it could drain away from the foundation. Luckily the porch is about 3' from the ground, so there's room. What would be a good thing to use? A downspout piece? Flexible tubing?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
WW
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Wed, September 12, 2007 - 5:27 PMWhere is the water coming out, exactly? Is it spilling over the top of the one on the left, the one on the right, or both? Are they angled down towards the drain? -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Wed, September 12, 2007 - 5:32 PMMost of it seems to be coming out of the gutter on the left, which is angled down toward where it drains into the gutter on the right. The curtain of overflow water is about 2' wide from where they come together. There is a little overflow from the right gutter, but for less than a foot where the two come together.
Thanks.
WW -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Wed, September 12, 2007 - 8:03 PMWhy not have a downspiquet directed underground? My parents' home has a sub pump inside the house that (eventually) flows into the front yard, where a bed of rocks has been placed. (It looks like a natural stream, and like a deliberate aesthetic design, when in fact, it's done for practicality.) It's perfect for heavy rains, and their home is an older one, that needed an upgraded option. They have a rambler, so the roof is wider, but the gutters aren't much bigger either. -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Thu, September 13, 2007 - 10:03 AMSounds like a good idea, but in my case I would have to rip up concrete. The area the back porch occupies was part of a concrete patio between the house and garage and is attached to the driveway. No loose dirt til you get to where you see the current downspout. So I need a solution that will take the water under the porch to drain into the same area.
I do have the current downspout draining something like what you described. Maybe I could arrange the outlets so they "waterfall". Luckily I have sandy soil in the back yard, so it drains well.
Thanks.
WW
WW
-
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Thu, September 13, 2007 - 12:30 PMIt seems like the problem is that it isn't draining from the left to the right fast enough. Is that a small section of downspout on the right side of the left gutter? Maybe if you can find a larger downspout you could add it to the left gutter just before it hits the other one, then run a pipe above the door, exiting the same place as the other downspout. Hopefully this would drain the left gutter faster and reduce the load on the right gutter.
-
-
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Thu, September 13, 2007 - 3:47 PMYou can import some dirt and build the grade up around your house against the foundation or strip some dirt from the soil a bout 10 or so feet away from the house ( in either case) creating a slope that will carry the water away from the building. That'll be cheaper than a curtain drain
-
Unsu...
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Thu, September 13, 2007 - 4:15 PM
i believe you only have one problem, the gutters are not big enough, the downspout tube is plenty big enough it all. just get bigger wider gutters and thats all. -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Fri, September 14, 2007 - 6:28 AMThey could also install diverters on the roof loading some of that water onto other gutter systems elsewhere.
-
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Fri, September 14, 2007 - 2:21 PMWhat about adding an additional downspout? -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Mon, September 17, 2007 - 9:13 AMAdding a downspout was my first thought. The "where" is the question.
The gutters are not hooked up to the storm sewer, so if I put the downspout on the left it would have to run under the porch to drain into the yard where the current downspout drains. If we put one in the corner where the gutters come together, it would mean cutting into the porch, which is OK. Problem is a downspout there would be kind of tricky because of the wires.
My yard has a natural slope away from the house and the soil is sandy, so it drains well. It could handle two downspouts draining.
Thanks.
WW -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Wed, September 19, 2007 - 6:23 PMHmm, I haven't heard of gutters being too small before. You have a big roof, but those two planes don't look *that* huge.
Is it possible that the gutter isn't level, so that water is pooling up in the corner away from the downspout?
I know my garage structure is way off level.
A good way to test it out is to pour a jug of water in the closed end on a dry day and see if it flows to the downspout or not.
Does the water "bottleneck" at the downspout?
I notice that new gutters have a much wider connecting piece at the top of the downspout, so that the water falls into basically a box at the top of the downspout. Maybe you could get away with just installing one of these if everything else seems good.
Just some idle thoughts. -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Fri, September 21, 2007 - 7:46 AMThe gutter does angle down properly. As you said, I think the problem is the bottleneck where the left drains into the right.
Talked to a roofer/gutter friend. We're going to put a downspout to drain the left gutter where the two come together instead of having the left drain into the right.
Hopefully that should take care of the problem.
Thanks for all the help.
WW
PS...Cliff...I like your idea of stuffing neighborhood children into the drain. Unfortunately they're all bigger than me... ; ) -
-
Re: Too much roof, not enough gutter
Fri, September 21, 2007 - 7:51 AMPS...Cliff...I like your idea of stuffing neighborhood children into the drain. Unfortunately they're all bigger than me... ; )
Oops...wrong thread for that one...it's on the mosquito thread. Anyway...good idea. : )
WW
-
-
-
-
