I live in a townhouse. There are four units, and the gutters run along the length of the whole property. My neighbors don't really care about clogged gutters, and hire a grossly unqualified guy, once a year, to clean them out. I'm planning to opt out and start hiring a proper cleaning service twice a year or more frequently.
I'm worried that when there is a heavy downpour, all the stuff on their sides (mine's a center unit) is going to wash right back over to my section.
I thought of installing a gutter divider of some kind, one on each side, right on the property lines. A strainer type item that will allow the water from my neighbors' sections of the gutter to flow through and go down my home's downspouts, while keeping the leaves etc. from crossing over to my side.
Do you think this is a good idea? Will it work like it does in my head?
Many thanks.

 

I would picture that any sort of device, screen or otherwise, would act as a dam when it gets plugged with junk. His side would overflow once his side of the screen became plugged, since water would not be able to drain to the downspout. If there was a downspout on each end, and the gutter was high in the center where you intend to divide it then it would not be a problem, since his water would run toward his downspout, yours would run toward your downspout.

I'm unsure sure why you are worried about this problem if no one else is having a problem with overflowing gutters or plugged downspouts. I would think that if one unit was having a problem they all would. Gutters do not have to be 100% clean in order to work. If downspouts are plugged then I could see your point.

 

Thanks for your reply.
All gutters on the property are overflowing to some extent but I have it worst, b/c the shape of the roof directs a lot of rainwater to my gutter. Also, again, I'm the only one who gives a damn.
I tried to clean my downspout (by snaking the garden hose from below, as I have no roof access/tall enough ladder) and got rid of a large garbage bag full of dead leaves etc. But my gutter continues to overflow just as badly.
Both neighbors have downspouts on their ends, but I'll check the pitch of the gutter before I do anything.

 

farukm -

Is this in a townhouse with an association (HOA) or is it an unregulated jungle with little individual control?

Rain and snow fall equally on every unit in your area and drifting can be different depending on the exposure and storm.

We have an association (4 units per building) that recently dumped the idea of gutter screens, foam inserts and decided to replace all gutters and downspouts with new, larger professionally installed seamless gutters and large downspouts and it made a world of difference. - All problems disappeared.

If you have any say in the situation, try to go for an open a drainage situation as possible and get rid of the rain, debris and snow as fast as possible and do not try to control everything. Fortunately, our small HOA goes with the flow. There always some other problems because we all own the land adjacent to our unt and have to manage the drainage as we chose - Fortunately, we have a service that cuts grass and plows the snow and we can plant what we want.

Dick

 

What Dick said about the large downspouts is key. There are 2 sizes of downspouts. 2x3 and 3x4. (6 sq in and 12 sq in). Obviously the larger ones can move twice the volume of water per second, which amounts to a BIG difference in how much water is being drained. That is something that's pretty easy to change, you would just need a gutter guy to come and do it for you, if you don't plan to DIY. As Dick said, the problem could possibly disappear with the larger downspouts. They also flush a lot more debris and are less prone to clogging.

 

Dick- XSleeper-
It's an individually owned jungle.

Thank you for the recommendation to install larger gutters. There are four very large maple trees around the property, that dump tons of helicopters and leaves on the roof and the yard. I think the choice of gutter/downspout size (installed before we bought the place) was inadequate to start with.
Not sure if I can persuade the neighbors to spend money on new gutters right now. I'll have to wait a few more years, until it's time to replace the gutters altogether.
In the meantime, does it make sense to change my downspouts to the larger size, without changing the gutters? Will it make a difference? Is this possible to connect small gutters to large downspouts with an adapter?

 

I don't know for sure but I think you can still use the larger downspout with the smaller gutter. It's just a matter of removing the connection thingy and replacing it with the larger size. Then you just pop rivet the new downspout to the connector. I'm sure you'll get some better info later today

 

We had larger gutters installed in our area and and removed the nuisance gutter guards removed.

It was amazing to see a corner downspout blowing up leaves from ground level to above the eave in the fall, but what comes up goes down as easily.

Now, we have the typical seasonal maple leaf "helicopters" plugging the city sewers, but not obstructing the individual home drainage.

If you do not have an adequate free-flowing gutter system, the benefits of a larger downspout are compromised, but still beneficial but hard to find at a big box.

Dick

 

Thank you all for the advice.
I have a feeling I'll become a regular in this forum.

 

Dick,

You mentioned " and removed the nuisance gutter guards removed", as in the screen that keeps the leaves and crap out of the gutters?

A screen to keep the junk out and a larger downspout would have been my suggestions.

 

Northern Mike -

We have some debris and only maple helicopters once a year. Most of our trees are mature green ashes that certainly do shed leaves in the fall. Fortunately, we do not have any close pines (20-40') that are spruce and about 40' away. Also some crab apples close by that are not overhanging.

This points out the difference in location and what ends up in the gutters.

We trashed the covers and lids because they were of a problem/expense for the HOA and switched to a more free-flowing situation, especially for the winter. Unlike some of the U.S. south and east of us we mainly get quick dry snows (Alberta Clippers) and if the sun (always follows a clipper) is able to burn the gutters clear, everything works. Our clippers are predictable dry storms that run on a narrow, predictable track from the northwest. Once or twice a year (late fall and early spring) we do get a wet "dump" from the SW or south that does not last long. If you were 75 miles south or 100 miles east, it would be different with different problems.

Our HOA does do an annual roof cleaning whether needed or not since it part of the annual driveway snow removal/lawn service arrangement.

Every location is different and has different problems and solution to resolve. The long needle pines are always a bigger problem than snow when it comes to gutters.

Dick