I have a small amount of standing water in my gutters due to the outlet location, maybe 1/2" of water. It kind of bothers me because I think it might be breeding ground for mosquitoes. I don't really want to put up a new gutter and outlet and such. I'm thinking, maybe if I glue 1/2" of ridgid foam insulation inside the gutter to take up that extra space? I know that's not the right way to do it, but I don't know, I'm open to ideas.

 

The best option is to remove and reattach the problem gutter with an appropriate slope (1 inch per 40 feet). It would be helpful is your pics showed the downspout location.

 

Thank you for the reply, I'll see if I can get a better picture later. The downspout used to be on the far left in the second picture, but the water was pooling in front of the garage which is in the center of the picture above. So now, the downspout is on the very far right in the second picture.

I don't think there's an issue with the slope of the gutter, it's just that the downspout outlet is in the side of the gutter, like this. I think the guy that did it is a pro, so he must have had his reasons and knew what he was doing, but I don't know. I also forgot they have those triangular gutter guards that are a mesh foam, maybe I'll give those a shot. I also forgot about those round discs that you can put in water that are supposed to kill mosquito larvae.

 

A short section of gutter can be sloped but with much length it's easy to spot a slope making the gutter look crooked. I think part of your problem is the unusual layout. A downspout on the left end of the left gutter would be better than having it's current layout where it drains out it's side and into the lower gutter, which then gets drained at the far end.

 

Yeah that's the way it used to be to be honest. Downspout far left. The problem is the water would come back and sit at the garage entrance underneath that longer gutter. I didn't think my dad would go for a drain in front of the garage, so this was an alternate solution.

 

Your pro did it wrong. Did he remove the gutter? It must be slopped the opposite way as when the downspout was on the right. Water seeks it's own level. Remove the gutter and slope in downwards towards the downspout. There is no short cut. Inserting the foam will not solve the problem. The slope must be corrected.

 

The easiest solution is to get a liquid sealant that is self leveling and pour it into the low spots. You would need to do it in several thin layers instead of one thick layer so that each layer cures properly. Read label directions.

Of course, the gutter should be clean and dry to do this, and if it isn't, you would probably have to take it down to clean it. That is the strangest configuration I have ever seen. No idea why he didn't put the outlet on the bottom and use 2 elbows. The lower gutter on the right is now too short for that option.

 

Gutters dont need slope, sloping gutters, especially long runs looks like krap, a little water in the gutter is not an issue it quickly dries up and will not be a breeding ground for anything.

You had it right the first time, each section had its own downspout but you had an issue at the ground and the fix was to remove and do some type of cobble job.

Either live with what you have or put a downspout at the right side of the long run and remove that connection piece!

 

@norm201
He did remove the old gutter, and put up a new one. It is now sloping in the opposite (correct) direction, I know it might be hard to see in my oddly cropped picture originally I attached.

Unfortunately a downspout on the right side won't work at all. I've attached a new picture showing that the right side is directly over the driveway, about 2' away from the wall. The original layout was good, but out driveway slopes down and all going back towards the garage, and I think it actually caused the sill plate behind the downspout to rot out. The driveway slopes down to the right, and then there are low spots near the garage.

I wonder if he did do it this way on purpose (outlet in the side of the gutter, and not on the bottom), to reduce the flow down into the shorter gutter, which may not have been able to handle all the water coming quickly in a heavy rainstorm.

 

Hmm.. I'm having trouble getting the picture to work. Let's try this again.
Edit: It's also worth noting the old downspout for the small gutter was attached to the small porch pillar, and that got moved to the right side. I don't fault the installer, it does work and there really isn't an issue. I think he did the best he could with what we wanted. Years ago I used some extra asphalt patch in front of the garage, you can still kind of see it, so the low spots don't look as bad.

 

I see 2 possible solutions for the garage gutter. (1) On the right side, relocate the downspout connector to the bottom of the gutter and use a 90 degree elbow to connect to the pipe to the lower gutter. Put a patch on the side downspout connector. (2) On the left side,add a downspout connector to the bottom of the gutter and attach a downspout. The bottom of the downspout should be located to allow a sloped horizontal run of additional downspout toward the rear of the house to a location where the draining water is not a problem.