Gutter Gut Job


  #1  
Old 10-14-03, 08:19 AM
Hopleaf
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Gutter Gut Job

I have a Cape Cod style house with a large gable in the center. On one side of the roof, both roofs of the gabel and the house come together in a crevice (it's lined in metal...sorry, don't know what that's called). At any rate, I've just recently had the entire house tuck pointed and want to shore up the gutters before the winter. In this particular corner, all the rain water (and eventually the snow runoff) falls into a very short, cornered section of gutter. What I mean by that is at the gutter line where this crevice ends, there's a 3-inch section of gutter that spans both sides of the house's corner for at most about 18 inches, at the end of the left one is a downspout.

From what I can tell, originally there was a downspout on the righthand side gutter. And prior to us purchasing the property, the gutters hadn't been cleaned out in probably about 3 years (older lady in a nursing home). There were saplings growing in some of the gutters. I've since cleaned the gutters (several times in the 10 months we've been here...lots of trees overhea).

So, I'd like to do the following and would appreciate any help anyone can offer:

a) realign the gutters, shoring up for better support and caulking all seams.

b) install 5-inch gutters in areas where particularly high runoff is possible.

c) relocate the downspout to it's original righthand side (looks better from the curb and it's easier there to include a downspout extension at ground level to distribute the water even further from the house).

d) install gutter screens to keep the leafs out.

My questions include:

Realigning the gutters shouldn't be much of a problem, but any pointers?

Will installing a 5-inch gutter really make much of a difference? in heavy rains, especially if the gutter isn't clean, the water will over shoot the gutter and end up running down the brick (which resulted in some very worn mortar joints in that area and subsequently some minor water damange on the interior).

Can I reuse my existing downspouts from one side to the other, whether I go with new 5-inch gutters or just reuse the existing gutters?

And finally, do gutter screens work? Will they keep the leaves out!?

Thank you.
 
  #2  
Old 10-14-03, 12:24 PM
Ed Imeduc's Avatar
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Location: Mountain Williams Missouri
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Wink Gutters

When you say the two gables get together in the crevice. I take this as a valley. Your gutter here goes 18"at 90o on the facia board both ways. I would put up new 5" gutter here. put the down spout where you want it. Then put what we call a splash guard about 4" or 5" up there on the top bead of the gutter this will stop the water from jumping over the gutter there.
As any thing to keep the junk out of gutters Id say forget it.
There are yard blowers with a bend in the blow pipe that like blows the junk out . Then there is one that you put it on your water hose and it goes up and bends over to let the water like clean the gutters out.
If the old spouts are still good yes use them . ED
 
  #3  
Old 10-22-03, 06:41 PM
thesteel
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gutters

lining up the old gutters should'nt be hard it depends
pn how they are installed. if they have the old long spikes
and ferrules it could be difficult. you spoke about installing
5 inch gutter you probably mean 6 inch(5" is standard size).
on your kind of house having a larger gutter(6") along
with oversize downspouts(3x4")can really make a big difference.
as far as screens go, they work but you have to get the right
kind for your application and they have to be installed properly.
install a valley shield where the water shoots over the gutter
onto the brickwork. it is a 5" peice of metal you screw to
the top edge of the gutter so it directs that water into the
gutter. good luck!
 
 

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