LESLIE: Kathy in Delaware is on the line and wants to talk about gutter options. Tell us about your house.
KATHY: I’d like to know what type of gutters would be best for a two-story Colonial house.
TOM: Well, the same kind of gutters that would be best for a one-story ranch house: the ones that are properly installed, properly sized and cart that water well away from the foundation. So, here’s a couple of things to know about gutter selection and installation.
First of all, what’s very, very important with gutters is the number of downspouts. Because one downspout can typically only handle 600 to 800 square feet of roof surface. So, no matter what type of installation, you need to really focus on making sure that there’s enough downspouts.
And where this can get tricky is if you have, especially with a Colonial, let’s say you have an upper roof. And sometimes that drains to a lower roof, like over a garage. And now you’ve got all of the upper roof, plus part of the lower roof, going down to one downspout that’s at the end of the lower roof. In that scenario, those spouts can get easily overwhelmed and that means the water overflows. It can cause decay damage into the framing. It can also drain right at the foundation perimeter and that can lead to issues with flooding and disruption of your foundation. So, I would tell you to make sure you have enough downspouts.
Secondly, in terms of the gutters themselves, 4-inch, K-style gutters are the standard. If you would like to do something that’s a little bit better than that and one that is less likely to clog, consider the 6-inch, K-style gutters.
KATHY: How about the covered gutters?
TOM: In terms of the covered gutters, they’re a good option but you have to choose them carefully. There are many types of gutter covers that are out there. The ones that I like the best are the ones that work on the principle of surface tension. So what happens is the rain runs off the roof shingles onto the top of the gutter cover. And then it falls through a groove in the front of the gutter cover into the downspout, yet the leaves wash off the front.
KATHY: They able to get more clogs than the open ones?
TOM: No. They’re going to get less clogged than the open ones. If you use something like a screen on your gutters, which is the way we used to always protect gutters, those can get clogged quite readily.
KATHY: Right. I’ve had them and taken them off.
TOM: Yeah. Exactly.
Alright? Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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