I recently installed 5″ half-round aluminum gutters on the north side of my main roof, pitched 12/12 and on a smaller roof, pitched 8/12, about 50 feet overall. Three downspouts, two inside miters, 7-8 slip joints. We had a deluge yesterday and I was quite surprised to see how much water was wicking down the fascia and behind the inside lip of the gutter. Obviously the gutter is doing something, as plenty of water was exiting the downspouts but the escaped water was considerable enough to be puddling up at the base of the wall.
There did seem to be less water getting by on the smaller roof, probably just a feature of total volume. The brackets on the smaller roof are also placed higher on the fascia, touching the drip edge on one side. On the main roof, they are slightly lower but still within 1-2″ of the roof edge. At any rate, the inside lip of the gutter run is well under the drip edge but doesn’t seem to be performing as it should be. Does anyone have advice or has encountered similar problems with water getting by?
*Incidentally I was not happy with the slipjoints provided by Amerimax; if you want to push your two pieces in so that they bottom out inside the slip joints, it requires cutting the upper edges of one of the pieces, approximately 1.25″. I called Amerimax to ask why cutting the gutter was not spec’ed in their literature and they said, you’re not required to cut it. Basically, the slip joints only slide on about 1/2″ on either side of the nexus. Unbelievable. Anyway, I cut because their way seemed truly flimsy and though it looks like crap to be frank at least the connections now seem solid. Fortunately, you can’t see them from your house.
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I would use some metal flashing. You should be able to cut the metal to slide under the drip edge and into the gutter. If you have more of a lip than the thickness of the gutter material to overcome you could bend it z flashing if you needed to.
Normal practice here is to use metal T-shaped drip edge, and to run the back edge of the (K style) gutter up behind the lower leg of the T. Pretty much impossible for rainwater to get behind the gutter then.
Yes to the flashing route, hopefully I can make do without a brake. What I can't understand is why the manufacturer doesn't spec anything like this in the literature. Actually seems like a huge oversight.
Well, you chose to use the half-round style, and this problem is kind of inherent in that style.
unbelievable
I would think any product sold to divert water from a roof edge would do a better job than just catch some of it, regardless of style. I had a veritable duck pond under the eave this last rain. I am either going to get a refund or have them pay for an amendment such as has been suggested above. Ridiculous.
This is one reason why the K style gutter was invented. The half-round is "traditional", and the shape is dictated by tradition.
did you look over the installation instructions?
you will not get any simpathy from Amerimax.
I looked up the gutters you installed and you did not install them acording to their instalation instructions so they will completely put the failure of the product on you. Sorry.
#1 Since I did not describe the manner of installation, you could not possibly know that it was done incorrectly. Amerimax's installation instructions are hopelessly vague and not gutter style-specific at all. Hence my call to tech support prior to installation.
#2 As the previous responders helpfully indicated, the half-round shape is inherently less efficient, more problematic. Which seems to be the case. However, as advised, it sounds like some clever flashing can solve the problem.
#3 Spell check is a beautiful and practical thing.
you said,
"about 50 feet
you said,
"about 50 feet overall. Three downspouts, two inside miters, 7-8 slip joints." and
" The brackets on the smaller roof are also placed higher on the fascia, touching the drip edge on one side. On the main roof, they are slightly lower but still within 1-2" of the roof edge. At any rate, the inside lip of the gutter run is well under the drip edge but doesn't seem to be performing as it should be"
the instructions from Amerimax state 1/4''/10'. if your 50' of gutters were a straight shot you should only be 1.25'' below the drip edge at the farthest point if you start touching the drip edge.
this, plus the cutting of the of the joints (they state only cutting for 6") would be plenty for the distributor to tell you you have installed them wrong. stating this simply so you are aware before you go trying to get it fixed or get your money back from the manufacturer.
k style is a lot easier to set tight to the fascia and under the drip edge, but rounded gutters should not "leak" water behind them the way you are describing.
Unless the gutter is under a fairly small roof a half round 5" gutter just isn't big enough to handle the water. Half round usually mounts lower than box gutter which means ina heavy rain a lot of water s going to shoot right over the top and jit the ground.
I think the problem is in the design, as has been mentioned. During the last rain storm none of the water came over the top of the gutter but rather behind, straight down the fascia. Big roof, 12/12 pitch. I could raise the gutter slightly but it won't help much. The only solution seems to be to run flashing in under the drip edge and lap it down over the inner edge of the gutter, creating the same effect as the k-style.
I didn't mean to be rude but when I said I had 50' of gutter that was a total linear feet figure for three different runs, the longest of which is 28'. And yes, I've pitched all of those runs according to Amerimax's specs. If you're at all familiar with the half-round, you know that the slip connections, as they've spec'ed it, are a very tenuous connection and this is why I took the liberty of cutting back one half of the joint to allow my sections to bottom out inside the slip joints.
I am upset at having purchased an inferior gutter system but I really did not like the look of the k-style-and now am paying the price for trying to be "different." Having said this, it's not a huge deal to install flashing to re-route the drips and I'm looking forward to the challenge.