Our gutters overflow everytime it rains.
They are two years old and have done this at thecornersfrom inception.
They seem too small to handle the water.
Does anyone know anything to prevent this?
I would like to put a rain collecter below these since there is so much volume there but would like to do something before winter as this area can freeze.
Janis
Our house just has straight gutters. A rain barrel might be a good idea for those places, but I don't know if a downspout could be installed there. If not, maybe you could set an open top rainbarrel there anyway. One thing I always wanted was a rain chain, but that doesn't work with downspouts.
Pat ~ WC WI
What's a rainchain? A welded chain?
I've thought of attaching different things to direct the flow somewhat.
They are usually some kind of little cups that catch the water and it flows over into the next one down the chain. They are made of copper (can be stolen easily) and supposedly make a unique sound. I don't have one, but have seen them, although it wasn't raining at the time!
Here is a site with photos.
http://www.rainchainsdirect.com/?gclid=CLLj4NvLv5wCFUdM5QodMi29nQ
Our gutters have always done the overflow thing, too. I was recently told that the downspouts are too small and since it's time to replace them (we never "fixed" this) I'm about to find out if that might actually be the case. I'll let you know what we discover upon installation and the next good rain.
Hi RubyCamellia and welcome to Thrifty Backyards.
When we had our rain gutters installed a couple of years ago we got the large downspouts, which was recommended (extra money).
The gutters only overflowed once during a very heavy downpour. The gutters or downspouts might have been plugged with hail at that time since it was a strong T-storm.
Dh wondered if you cleaned them out lately. They can get clogged up with leaves and debris.
belle
Yes, we clean them out often. We have a ranch style house so the roof isn't too steep and DH goes up there with the leaf blower.
It is a never ending job living in the woods. LOL!
The idea is I think to use the rain chains in place of dowspouts but maybe they could be used in some way to help with the overflow. I don't have gutters on my house. I grew up without them too & my brother, who is a contractor, built this house without them. It's really a good thing because I live in a wooded area & they would just stay full of leaves & pine needles & I would have to hire someone to clean them out all the time. It's really not a problem at all. There are several houses in the area that do not have them.
Welcome Ruby. Thank you and the others for all your help. I will look to see if they have a larger downspout at Lowes and yes we do clean the gutters and have screening on them. It seems like a good idea to enlargen the downspout as there is a lot of water in that spot when it rains. I put half a whiskey barrel underneath as a decoration and to catch the drops.
Some of the water seemd to overrun the roof so I need to devise a splash guard and show it where I want it to go also. LOL
Now's the time since Spring is wet and windy. Ah the joys of home ownership. Never a dull moment.
getting bigger downspouts is the answer we just did that to our home in July. I did ask about the rain chain . . those serve no purpose other than looks . . they allow the water to seep into the ground and eventually you have basement problems, ie wet, cracks in the basement walls, etc. We got this from the contractor who replaced ours. Just an FYI . . but the larger downspouts will help.
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