Gutter Talk

We are a long way from winter but one of the most common problems we hear about every year is ice damming or icicles brought on when it snows.  Contrary to popular opinion, gutters do not cause ice dams. But an ice dam can extend from the edge of the roof into a gutter under certain weather conditions. And if the gutter’s already clogged with leaves and debris, you may have an issue.

The real cause of ice damming is probably a warm sunny winter day when the runoff water from melting snow runs down to the edge of the roof where it refreezes, forming an ice dam or ridge of ice. As more snow melts end becomes water, it runs down the roof and the ice dam grows, sometimes creating icicles.

What causes ice dams? Poor attic insulation or air leaks inside the home that allows warm air to get into the attic. The warm air rises and raises the temperature of the underside of the roof, making the snow melt. The melted snow runs down the warmed roof until it reaches the roof overhang that is not warm and is the same temperature as the outside air—and there it freezes, creating the ridge or ice dam. Eventually the runoff water can back up under the shingles or through cracks in the roof.

What can you do to stop it? It depends on what’s causing the underside of the roof to warm up. This is a blog and we don’t want to spend a lot of time giving an explanation. But either more insulation or more ventilation can help prevent heat buildup. You’re probably going to need a professional to tell you what’s causing the problem and what’s required in terms of insulation or venting changes to fix it.

Some people suggest roof mounted heating cables to form a path for the melted snow to travel through an ice dam. But you’ve got to remember to turn them on and then can’t leave them running all the time or they might short out. And if the electrical power goes in a storm, you may be out of luck.

Some people suggest a snow rake to remove the rooftop snow and slow down the ice dam growth. Others suggest using a hose to cut channels through the ice dam. But we don’t recommend people getting up on ladders in the winter to rake off or hose down the roof. And besides, both would only be temporary solutions.  The real reason is heat buildup under the roof and that has to be corrected to try to stop the recurring problem.

 You may wish to contact an energy specialist who can do an evaluation using diagnostic equipment to isolate the problem. You’ll not only find out where the problem is on your roof but you’ll also probably learn if other parts of your home are leaking hot air as well.

As you can imagine, we are always getting emails from manufacturers and homeowners telling us about new products on the market. Somebody always has a new idea to make things “simpler.”  No quarrel with coming up with ideas to do that. But a lot of the ideas seem more focused on how to make a buck than how to solve a problem. Lately we’ve seen information or requests about two-story downspouts that can be detached for cleaning by the homeowner, a gutter system that is wider and looks a little different than the conventional k-style for greater capacity, a request for a hinged gutter endcap to facilitate cleaning, etc., etc.

We guess the detachable downspout was to save do-it-yourselfers from climbing up ladders to clean out gutters and the hinged end cap to be able to flush water into the gutter to remove debris. Interesting ideas, both with  seeming advantages and complications as well.

The larger gutter–somewhere between a 5″ and 6″ k-style but with a slightly different look–also sounded interesting if you’re trying to get more water off of your roof faster. 

New ideas can ge good. But homeowners always have to consider not only whether the idea is a good one but can the company that introduces the new “idea” stand behind it. The fact of the matter is that there are only a handful of large gutter suppliers in the U.S. Most are small, local suppliers. And the new idea guys may be working out of a garage and having the product built by someone else.

If you’re going to try a new product, ask who makes it, how long they’ve been around and whether there are airtight guarantees from the manufacturer and the installer that the product can be replaced if necessary.

It’s Spring again–time to get out and see what Old Man Winter has been up to on the outside of your home. One place you’ll certainly want to check is your gutters. Winter winds, falling debris and the snow and ice of colder climates may have left their mark there.
Even from the ground, you should be able to tell if the weight of snow and ice has bent your gutters or if flying debris and tree limbs have dented them. You should also be able to learn just by looking at the wall of your home whether water has been overflowing your gutters and discoloring the wall or foundation or splashing into the dirt areas around your home. Barring that, you can risk your safety climbing a ladder to get a closer look. Or you can call a professional who will check your gutters for you.
In any case, if you do spot clogged, bent or loose gutters or water-stained walls, here’s what you might face in the future:
If your gutters are old, loose or clogged up, rainwater can flow back underneath the soffit (the underside of the overhang of a house) or into the flush fascia (trim on a house above the soffit but below the roofline that caps the roof rafters ends) behind them. Water trapped between the soffit and wood above it will rot the wood. Water can also rot fascia, expose interior parts of the house and work its way into ceilings and behind walls, doorways and windows.
If gutters are clogged, water will overflow them, splashing against the foundations and walls of your home. The resulting dampness can result in mildew and mold on the walls, erosion of a cement foundation and water damage in a cellar and possible damage to landscaping.
If you have a stucco or Drivit wall, a finish system that resembles stucco, rainwater overflowing a clogged gutter may eventually discolor that section of the wall. Gutter installers tell us you might have a costly problem. They say the precise color of a stucco or Drivit wall is determined by a number of factors when it is applied. It’s almost impossible to replace a small section of a wall with new material of the exact same color, they report, noting that, usually, the entire wall must be recoated to gain a consistent color–at considerable expense.
If water gets into the soffit or rots the fascia, they may have to be replaced, reportedly costing two or three times what it would have cost to simply replace the old gutters.
You might also want to investigate options to the conventional k-style five or six-inch gutters generally installed by contractors. For example, if you habitually have a problem with leaves and debris, you may wish to investigate installing gutters with a screen or a hooded leaf protection system that can deflect leaves and debris away from the house while drawing water down into the gutter.

There are scores of manufacturers of gutter and leaf protection systems, touting their products’capabilities and knocking competitive technologies. It seems that every week, a new invention for leaf protection finds its way into the marketplace.

We know of no one who has independently set standards and conducted tests of all the available systems to determine which systems actually work the best. Perhaps, there just isn’t enough money and/or interest in the consumer marketplace to mount an independent study large enough to analyze all the gadgets out there. Perhaps, leaf protection just isn’t high enough on the lists of gadgets that have already made their way into consumer guides.

Meanwhile, manufacturers and contractors have been known to monitor homeowners websites, joining web conversations and pretending to be “satisfied customers” of one kind of leaf protection device or another. May the web buyer beware. And when the rain stops and the dust settles, who even knows if half the complaints of disgruntled homeowners are even accurate—if in fact, the leaf protection system is even the real problem.

Choosing a leaf protection system is a very subjective activity. Everyone’s wallet is different. Everyone’s idea of what a clean gutter constitutes is different. Some people are do it yourselfers, others simply weren’t born with the DIY gene.

One thing does seem to be certain—no one has yet come up with the perfect solution to the leaf protection problem to satisfy everyone. If they had, no one would be grumbling about what is out there now.

There is a growing, legitimate concern in this country about our dwindling water resources, particularly as areas of the Southeast, Southwest and West continue to grow.

 While population is growing, water resources are finite and engineers and architects are being pressed to come up with new solutions to meet water demands despite limited supplies. In areas where water is scarce, architects and builders are already looking for ways to tap rain water for non-potable uses including landscape irrigation and non-potable household uses such as toilet flushing and laundry needs. And they know that the efficiency of doing so depends on such factors as roof material, gutters, diversion amounts and design retention.

One of the most effective ways of reclaiming rainwater is through the use of an integrated system that ties in a metal roof, a leaf protection system and a rainwater harvesting and collection unit. PVDF-coated roofs reportedly do not leach and leaf protection systems, particularly hoods and covers, can help eliminate much of the debris that channels into conventional gutter systems before it reaches the filtering systems and containment tanks included in surface and underground rainwater harvesting systems.

 Water conservation experts have known for some time that the smoother, cleaner, and more impervious the roof surface, the higher the water quality and the greater the amounts of water that can be collected. Pitched metal roofs lose negligible amounts of water, while a porous or rough roof surface may hold back some of the water that would otherwise make it into a recovery system. According to government numbers, concrete roofs can lose an average of about 10%, and built-up tar and gravel roofs can lose as much as 15%.