Does a House Need Rain Gutters - The Truth About Eaves Troughs
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Nathan Weinstock is the president and chief inspector at AccuChex Home Inspections, a leading home inspection company in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Here he reveals the truth about house rain gutters or eaves troughs. This was recorded at one of the free public workshops about home inspections given at the Ottawa public library.
I love this man and everything he says, not just about gutters but also about having a hard surface around your house and not a bunch of plants.
Homes used to be built with more significant overhang too so you needed gutters even less and in the summer it helped to shade the house. The practice stopped so that planners could put more homes in smaller spaces.
Finally...some honesty about the efficacy of gutters.
I agree. Gutters clog and it seems to me a clogged gutter is worse than no gutter.
I'm a real estate broker that owns a gutter company and investment property. A clogged gutter can do more damage than no gutter. Gutter maintenance is essential. But 90% of homes, in my experience, that have no gutters, will find much more expensive problems in the long run. Pay for it now (gutters), or pay for it later (foundation, siding, landscape erosion etc).
I'm glad I am not the only one who thinks that gutters are a scam.
Michael Hicks yes and no.
what do you do when water coming right into your face when passing your front porch ?
@@booAHHHH 😂
@@mochissin84m84 i mean... you're about to walk into the rain anyway... use an umbrella?
Most gutters on homes are not installed properly. Also, downspout location is critical to the functionality. Too far of a run without a downspout is trouble. The type and material of the gutter. Gutters also protect water from working its way underneath your eaves and climbing up the lumber which is essentially your roof deck. Gutters work hand in hand with your roofing system. They also stop the aggressive water splash from pounding the base of your exterior walls.
Smaller single story homes can probably do without them, especially since they are most likely to be clogged by taller trees and the water doesn't splash at the same force. But taller homes with bigger roofs have much more water coming off of them that splash against the house and will definitely cause damage or even foundation/basement flooding and landscape erosion. It depends on what the house is cladded in, how tall it is, how big the roofs is, and if there is an area of convergence in the roof that concentrates a ton of water in one location. I just took my gutters off for repair and replacement and I'm definitely experiencing problems without them (basement leaking, erosion, splashing on the siding and windows). But it goes without saying that the downspouts need to be routed far away from the foundation. And in the winter, you really don't want the constant drip of melting snow pooling up around the foundation or walkways to freeze up.
Great explanation, and just the info I needed to NOT get gutters!
@@ramenlover1727 , it's not about that at all.
Two things about gutters: Proper installation and Annual cleaning. You'll be a happy man. I learned the hard way.
goosecouple
In my heavily wooded neighborhood, neighbors replaced fascia boards due to water rot and had 8” gutters installed hoping to get by with just once a year cleaning. Good luck to them.
No gutters for me. Ground channels to guide the water around the foundation and away. I saw this on homes hundreds of years old in Colonial Williamsburg. Works great. Clean the leaves safely in seconds versus hours on a dangerous ladder. The other benefit is that the fascia can dry better without gutters.
@@Mote78 Sounds great. I will check out the Colonial method.
If you have a 2 story house, you should think about rain gutters on the upper level, especially in areas where there is a crease/valley spilling directly on a section of lower level roof, over time this will become an issue.
just dont use the wood cladding near the ground... use brick/stone/metal/cementboard cladding 3-4ft above the ground you will be ok...you will find all grand houses in Europe and Asia are all build with stone half wall 3-4ft above the ground instead of using wood...since we have the cladding system, outward drying is much easier and it remedies the problem of stone basement but we can still reapply the good bit of old time to protect our house even with some new material like metal/cement board
The 800 year old church near me, which has a very large, very steep roof, doesn't have gutters, and the soil under the roof overhang, looks fine. Only the faintest of erosional evidence. And that's 809 years worth.
Why not just have overhangs that let the water pour away from the house?
Wind can get under and it's easier for the roof to pull apart
Are there any examples of what a hard surface would look like, around the house?
Patio stones . Concrete. Anything but soil. Definitely not any kind of plants
@@jonahjameson8224 Who can install this for me? What would I ask for?
@@rollthers3157your yard guy; yourself or handyman
Here in Australia we have mostly gutters and bushfires. With wind , big strong winds,Gutters fill with leaves even if you have cleaned them prior to bushfire alert. You can fill with water but this drains away over a few hours. So this is my reasoning to delete all my guttering. Water from the roof sprinkler will wet the surrounding pavement and gravel keeping fire away from the house walls.There is nothing on CZcams about living without gutters. Why is that?
If you don't have gutters you really, really need to make sure the water that comes off the roof flows away from your slab / foundation immediately. Or you will end up with damaged foundations or other issues in very short order. Where I live in urban areas all rainwater goes down the downspouts and out to the street and carried away. All houses have gutters. Even in bushfire areas houses have gutters and you need to maintain them. And for that matter, not have large trees close to your house. The issue in the US is they get snow on their houses like most places in Australia don't, and gutters can be damaged by snow and also underground pipes can freeze.
Not always. My soil is extremely sandy and I live on a hill. It's all effectively a French drain. The foundation can get as wet as as ever. Been like that since pre WW2 on my house.
Do i still need gutters if my house is high and at an incline? Its a newly constructed neighborhood also idk if that matters.
Very valid points and good advice.
Thanks for the information!
my house's roof actually leaks in hard rain because of these eves drops. i am pulling them out!
#Nathan Walker HOW MUCH OF MY HOUSE ACTUALLY NEEDS RAIN GUTTERS. @Dorothy Dolittle
Home inspector said I needed to install gutters. I called bs. I have a hipped roof, low and wide eves. The drip line is 24 inches from the foundation. I did an at-grade foundation planting so did not add extra soil. You have to choose foundation plants carefully 100%. Put small plants just inside drip line, others just outside it. The dripline creates a trough in the ground. But hipped roofs shed water evenly on all 4 sides, unlike A-frame/gable that has high output on only 2 sides. Do we actually NEED gutters?
you need gutters. water will eat away your eaves and foundation. Anyone who says they dont need it doesnt know a damn thing about house or water's ability to dissolve everything.
@@tuanas458I have a corogated metal roof with an appropriate overhang, and my concrete foundation/basement extends about a foot above the ground surface. My house is pre WW2, and other than in a few places, there is zero wood rot. Northern Sweden. Old slow growth wood (I think).
What about rain that falls beyond the gutters?? Wouldn’t it still seep into the soil? Especially when it’s raining hard?
thats like asking if you drink too much water. Theres a certain amount the soil can take before it becomes too saturated. The point of the gutters is to prevent major saturation
My gutters were leaking and clogged, and ice dams.
did i hear right? no flowers and plants near the foundation of the home? because it basically creates a molt aroudn the home? thats what the previous owners have on my home now :o
I rather build a bigger roof ,no more gutters
s300b3rt not every home necessarily need gutters but it is important to keep in mind most homes do need rain gutters this is why I'm so busy especially most historic building, schools businesses they all benefit from rain gutters. I install gutters on 3 foot fore foot &6 foot roof eaves if you bring that water back to the house you can still divert it out with landscaping or piping. important thing to remember is you're carrying the water to the grade rather than having a falling and splatter. so called home inspector is wrong way saying gutters don't work? rain gutter installed properly can be most beneficial long term
there is an alternative to a hard surface around the house.
One problem with a hard surface perimeter is the pest control guys won't be able to trench for chemicals such as Termidor. Baiting system such as Sentricon (with its ongoing annual costs) might be the only option.
HOW MUCH OF MY HOUSE ACTUALLY NEEDS RAIN GUTTERS.
so if you have concrete floor at the bottom gutters are not necessary for one story house?
rocks and gravel
I think you missed his point entirely...
My house is on a slab ( no foundation ) ..Vinyl siding ... my roof soffit is about 14" ....my ground floor is concrete ... do I need Gutters....please help ???
Super Nova
I’m 67, owned homes in six states during my career. Gutters are a pain even with leaf guards.
The presenter is right, deal with rain where it falls. I visit Colonial Williamsburg Va often and homes there are from the 1700-1800’s. No gutters but they have brick troughs (channels) around the foundation to direct rain water away from the house. Works great. You may have some splash concerns if you have wood siding getting wet but these homes had 3 foot high brick foundations... no problem. Also, The troughs were valley shaped to guide the water around and away from the house.
@Super Nova it’s impossible to say without knowing other factors, but I inspect slab homes that are anywhere from 60 years old
to brand new. Here in the Deep South, few of them have ever had gutters and almost none of them have issues that would have been prevented by gutters.
How can this man be an inspector. It really all depends on grading. 9 out of 10 homes need some form of gutters, and the one that doesn't, probably won't hurt if installed properly. With that said, he is correct, if a gutter is not properly installed or the water is not properly diverted, then yes a gutter can do more harm than good, but you could literally say that about any system in the house
I bet Drew makes money selling or installing gutters?
He said in neighborhoods with mature trees. I live in one. My neighbor paid over $8,000 for new gutters with a high priced gutter guard. He had trees growing out of them in less than ten years. Cost plenty to get them cleaned out on a 3 story home. He was furious. Gutters are a PITA unless you have plenty of cash to pay someone to clean them, even with gutter guards. In Colonial Williamsburg the homes are hundreds of years old... no gutters, no problems. They have brick valleys around the foundations to direct the water away. No leaf clogging, no gutter pains. That’s the way to go.
It really does not depend all on grading. It depends on home design, roof type, soil type, siting, foundation type and climate. Do you have data that shows that 9 of 10 houses need gutters? How about data that shows that a significant number of homes without gutters, across all climates and regions, have issues related to not having gutters? How about data that homes on slabs, that are properly graded, need gutters?
Are you by any chance a Realtor? This is the kind of stuff I hear Realtors say every day, and they are usually just as wrong as you are.
@@rlta04 Sorry for the delayed response. I'm a real-estate broker and gutter company owner. Please read my responses to the other comments. May I ask what business you are in, and what brought you to this video (a year later lol)?
@@Mote78 Sorry for the delayed response (a year later lol). I'm just now seeing this due to a recent comment. I don't know the particulars of your neighbors home but it sounds like they may have been upsold or didn't get the right solution. Different gutter guards offer different advantages and disadvantages. Maybe they could have not needed the top story. Every deal is different.
Brick valley's sound pretty expensive though. And how efficient are they really? Maybe they divert the water adequately, but what is the damage of the splashback. Broken foundations are alot more expensive than gutters. Why do you think every commercial/multifamily investment type property has gutters? A gutter conspiracy? Or perhaps investors know, gutters are necessary to maintain the integrity of the structure over the long run. Pay for it now (gutters), or pay for it later (foundation, siding, landscape erosion etc).
I have a low single story house with 3 ft overhang. I took my gutters off for remodel and its s disaster. Water comes off the roof splashes on the concrete and all over the house and on my wood front door. I put ply wood in front of the door to protect it. That cannot be good. This guy is not being practical.
eave troughs, Rain gutter! are very useful in preventing water run off from over saturating your soil foundation, falling rain splatters on
hard a surface.duh! especially if it's falling from two stories. long term splatering can ruin and stain siding , decks drive ways & Doorways. this rain gutters are installed properly and tie into your landscaping. they are most beneficial. what kind of a home inspector are you? must be a comedian. RAIN GUTTERS GOOD!
James Vertin not necessarily. our house has longer eve's than most at about 3 feet long. The gutters that were put on years ago actually bring the water back towards the house. We took them off. Simply no need for them. The eve's are long enough the water is dumped onto the ground far enough away from the house that gutters aren't needed.
sc00b3rt Okay, I install rain gutters on some homes with four to six to 8 foot eaves, it all depends on what the water is running on to. sometimes it's just a simple flower bed, other times its a Walk Way or parking lot. 3 foot eaves do put water run-off out further but what if it's falling in front of a doorway or daylight basement window? I'm not saying that rain gutters is the solution to every home. but it is a solution to most homes, with typical two foot eaves. bringing all your roof water to one location is not a bad thing, especially for rain harvesting or collection barrels for gardening,& as long as it ties into your landscaping or final grade and it runs out away from the home. if you don't have rain gutters on your eves I suggest doing proper landscaping with gravel and undederlayment liners. home inspector is wrong by saying rain gutters don't work?? 75% of all homes and most historic buildings that do have rain gutters are working and offers long term protection! I guess some people just have their own view?
when my late grandfather built his own house he laid concrete gutters around his foundation. never had a problem.
@Ken Williams yes you're right water does fall from the sky, and there's no stopping that, metal skirting may be one option for Skyfall. so by stand underneath the roof eave when it's raining feel the water fall. That splatter is far more severe due to the total roof accumulation & falling off at one point. Rain gutter!
im not too sure still to get the rain gutters, you things its worth it . i dont want foundatin prblems and stained sidings. i want a nice lawns without unevend edges.
I am not a big fan of his video... sad ) ;
Typical home inspector. Probably has no experience in rain gutters has no idea what to look for but a book that tells him everybody is doing their job wrong.
Nope. I agree with him. Gutters are a PITA. Permanent ground construction around the foundation to guide water around and away from the house. That’s the way to go.
Craig Wheeless what does PITA mean. Also, I have had my house for 10 years and no gutters. Haven’t had an issue yet. I was told I needed them but I just don’t see it. I’ve done some research online and it’s split 50/50 with people saying you do and don’t. Seem like more trouble than anything else.
Ali Contreras
Gutters are a PITA (Pain in the ass). Two neighbors replaced fasciae boards because of water rot behind the gutters. Then they installed large 8 inch gutters hoping they won’t clog. Best to construct brick or concrete channels on the ground. Clean out the leaves with a leaf blower safely in seconds versus hours on a dangerous ladder.
@@Mote78 Thanks, I was wondering what to call those boards! I have to do the same thing. The boards and the gutters are going out and will be replaced by a ground channel!