LESLIE: John, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
JOHN: I have the rainspout in my house in two different areas, that when it rains the water goes behind the rainspout against the soffit or fascia against the house and comes in between the rainspout and the house. A lot of the water does go down the rainspout but some goes behind the rainspout. And I’m afraid it may drip onto the wood and start rotting the wood. And I don’t know how I can fix that from occurring.
TOM: So, it sounds to me like the gutter is becoming overflowed – is overwhelmed and so the water is backing up over the back edge of the trough of the gutter?
JOHN: I don’t think that’s the case. It’s not overflowing but somehow, the water is being carried away but yet there’s still some water making it, to your point, behind the rainspout, towards the house. And I know it’s not an overflow situation. And I had a new roof put on about two years ago, so …
TOM: Alright. So, typically, when gutters are installed by roofers, the downspout is a 3-inch downspout or a 4-inch downspout. And it’s pierced through the gutter body down into it. And the hole that is actually created there is a fairly small opening. What we usually recommend is to use a larger downspout – one that’s a 6-inch downspout – because it has less restrictions. And this way, more water can fall in.
JOHN: OK.
TOM: I suspect, however, that joint between the downspout and the gutter was made, it’s allowing for this to occur. So, you know, the simple thing to do is to get a ladder and get up there and take a good, hard look at it, grab a hose, run some water down the roof. Watch if you can see exactly what’s happening in that space and what’s letting the water get behind it. But I suspect that the connection between the downspout and the gutter is not done correctly.
You could try to fix that and you could try to seal it. Maybe you have to mechanically take it apart and bend or rivet or something in to get it where it needs to be and then seal the whole thing with silicone caulk. Or if that doesn’t work, you might want to try to switch it out to a larger downspout. And that will have less tendency to hold any of the water back. And gravity will take over and that will be that.
JOHN: That just sounds like a solution to me. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to get some silicone in there, too. OK.
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