Sloping your gutters and mounting downspouts.
Run gutters in middle of wall.
A good rule of thumb is to slope your gutters about 1 inch for every 10ft of horizontal run.
Holes through the splash guard and the gutter.
If the gutter is tilting away from your house it could be causing an overflow particularly during heavy storms.
And end seams by 4 in.
2 your gutters aren t positioned correctly.
Tear the paper backing off the tape and lightly adhere one edge of the tape to the top of the gutter.
You can find these precut gutter splash guards about 3 in brown and white aluminum at a home center but you could easily make your own out of aluminum or sheet metal and spray paint them to match your gutters.
Then take a water hose and run water through your gutters to make sure it comes out of your downspouts.
You want at least a quarter inch of slope for every 10 feet.
Finally attach a front or side elbow at the downspout s bottom to direct water away from the building foundation.
Overlap long seams by at least 1 in.
Stretch a mason s line from the nail.
To correct this yourself you ll need to measure from the peak to the downspout.
Cut the tape with a scissors or a razor knife photo 2.
All gutters need to be sloped downward directing water towards the downspouts to ensure that any water runs down to the ground and doesn t sit and pool in your gutters.
Work wrinkles and bubbles flat.
The pitch and tilt of your gutters make all of the difference.
Fasten the downspouts snugly against the wall with two flexible aluminum downspout bands per 10 foot section using nails or screws.
The pitch of gutter heading towards a downspout can also cause overflow if it s too steep.
Roll the tape down the wall of the gutter pushing it firmly into curves and corners photo 3.
If your gutters run longer than 40ft it will be beneficial to slope the gutter in each direction from the middle of the gutter.
If there s standing water it s not pitched properly.
If the gutter is over 40 feet long and can only accommodate 1 downspout.
To properly align the slope using a line level on the mason s line drop one end of the line a inch for each 25 feet of fascia length.
At least twice a year you need to climb up on a ladder and scoop out all the leaves pine needles twigs and other debris that may be sitting in your gutters.
Are there even larger size gutters.
Mark that point with a pencil.
A clean gutter is a happy gutter.
If there are upper gutters that drain into lower gutters we recommend upgrading the lower gutters to 6 to handle the increased volume of water.
Drive a nail into the fascia at one end of the gutter run wall inch below the top of the fascia.
Get on a ladder after a rainstorm and look in the gutter.
The middle of the run will be 1 inch higher than the ends with the water flowing toward the downspouts in opposite directions.
Gutters can be installed in sizes even larger than 6 inch oversized gutters.
Drill rivet holes for the gutter splash guard.
Gutters need to be pitched toward the downspouts for the water to flow properly.
