gutter with low spot in middle and standing water

[Kyle]

Now that the weather has gotten a bit more civilized in my area of the U.S., I went on the roof to do a few seasonal fixes, among which was tightening the pins/spikes that hold the gutter in place.

I noticed that the gutter on the front of the house (about 50'/15m long) has standing water in the center 20'/5m or so (about 3/4"/1cm at deepest point). Anyone have any reasonable solutions as to how to raise the center so that water drains and doesn't lay there?

I've seen in old discussions here advice about pulling the gutter and remounting it, but I don't see how that's feasible. We're talking about moving a gutter less than the diameter of the nail/pin that holds it in place, and it's not like one can just move the nail/pin to the left or right, yes?

Putting the downspout at the low point is right out, as the low spot is right over the front door.

I haven't seen anyone post results of filling the low space with some sort of lightweight solid that would raise the "floor" of the gutter to make it drain.

Any thoughts?

[HeyBub]

Hope someone can help you out. I have a similar problem with low spots on a garage flat roof.

Like you, I'm hoping for some very light leveling substance.

[aemeijers]

Fine tune reality. Add another spike one rafter tail to the left and right after pulling lowest one, or shim the existing spike with metal tubing or pipe to get the height you need. It doesn't even have to be real pretty or artistic, since it is well above eye level. Just dab some matching paint over any scars you make, and nobody will ever know. Old spike holes can be covered with aluminum tape.

Forget about using floor leveling compound or anything in a gutter. They need to be slick and shiny. Use a garden hose or a large marble to test fall and for humps.

[Metspitzer]

I can hear a loud drip in my gutters when it rains. I was reading ways to soften the sound. One suggestion is to put a rope in the drain to give the water a path to drop. It might work as a wick for your problem.

[Colbyt]

Others may disagree with what I say.

Gutters are a finely balanced act between function and appearance. Sometimes they do not have the perfect slope to the drop. Creating the perfect slope may cause appearance problems.

A little standing water will hurt nothing.

My advice: Find something more serious to worry about.

[Molly Brown]

[WW]

[Home Guy]

Haven't seen this posted yet as a solution.

It's not elegant, but it's a quick fix: Drill a small hole in the gutter (1/8", maybe 3/16") in the low point where water is pooling. This will give the stagnant water somewhere to go (ie - down) but presumably when you get rain most of the water will flow out to the gutter downspouts the way it should.

[RicodJour]

Agreed. Gutters make wonderful roof edge planters. ;)

Stuff will grow in the gutter, the standing water doesn't stay just water. Leaves, roof shingle granules and such get stuck in there, too. Over time the load increases, the sag increases, which hold more water, and the cycle repeats.

Your point about a gutter not needing a 'perfect' slope is true, but that is not the same thing as having a gutter that traps water. There is no reason, short of a faulty installation, why a gutter system should ever have standing water. It's a totally trivial thing to rehang a gutter. One person can rehang a gutter of any length with a few pieces of cord to temporarily suspend the gutter.

Keeping gutters in good condition is one of the primary maintenance tasks inherent in owning a home.

R

[Home Guy]

Well, if the water is collecting over a 20-foot length, then putting the hole just adjacent to the door (and not directly over the door) should be possible. Note that when it's raining or just after a rain for an hour or so, you're not likely to be inconvienenced by having a gallon or two of water drain onto the ground in front of (or beside) your front door area.

I did this on my house (drilled a small hole in the gutter) to drain a low point, but this was over-top another roof section so that water simply fell and got collected by a another gutter section below it.

The OP also says this:

If the water depth is 3/4", then you need to move the low point up by at least that amount to prevent a low spot from forming. Way more than "the diameter of the nail holding it in place".

Normally the gutter is nailed through the face board and into the rafter ends directly behind it, which are spaced every 18 to 24".

But the reality is that putting a 1" screw with a wide pan head (ie - wafer-board screws) through the back wall of the gutter and into the faceboard every couple of feet is all you really need. The front edge of the gutter doesn't really need to be supported at every rafter joint like it normally is by the hangers. You never have so much of a load on the gutter that requires that sort of bracing.

[aemeijers]

On 3/16/2011 11:43 PM, Home Guy wrote: (snip)

Other than the spot where you lean a ladder against it. I keep meaning to make some thick-wall tubes and add 3-4 extra spikes to make an extra-solid section. Since the load is parallel to ground, they wouldn't need to be into the rafter tails.

[Vic Smith]

Yeah. I've got a low spot too. Maybe 3 feet long, that holds maybe

1/4 inch of water until it evaporates. That's on a about a 35 foot run on the front of the house. I think it was caused by ice weighing the gutter down and bending it. Probably have a warm spot there because it's where the biggest icicles form. Not a gutter expert, but I've hung some. Since a gutter is a square form and has a rolled front edge they are pretty stiff. When I put 25 footers on my garage I noticed no sag when I leveled them. Attached the high end and low end with the prescribed drop, then did the other hangers. Used a dial level to check and the angle stayed the same without me forcing the gutter up or down. What this tells me is the low spot on the house is because the gutter is bent. So I'm not sure rehanging that same gutter would work. If it's bent it's bent. I've thought about bending it back up, using a jack, but it's not bad enough to worry about. Not sure how that would work out. Might screw up the hangers. A low spot tends to collect debris and can form a dam, but I just get up there at least every other year and clean the gutters out.

Bottom line - live with it or hang a new gutter. Doubt drilling a hole will work if you get any debris in the gutter. It'll just get plugged up.

--Vic

[JerseyBoy]

replying to Metspitzer, JerseyBoy wrote: Hmmmm. I've got water collecting on the high end of a gutter, even though that end is about 1 1/2 " above the low end 17' away (that assumes the house is level, and it may have settled with a shift towards that high end of the gutter). The problem it causes is to leak dirty water onto a white railing for the porch below, staining the white vinyl railing. Instead of trying to re-align the gutter, which would be a lot of trouble (deck and gardens have been added, complicating ladder access) I thought putting some sort of wick in that low spot might keep that water from collecting and seeping through the end of the gutter. Sealing that gutter end might solve the problem also, but getting to it would not be easy. Your suggestion about a rope in the drain re-enforces my idea. It's certainly worth a try. All I've got to lose is a section of railing that has to be cleaned. Right now, I've got it covered with a tarp.

[Ameri-Clean]

I had a low spot in the middle of a long run so I put a downspout at that point and led it to a rain barrel.

[jeanie stockton]

replying to Colbyt, jeanie stockton wrote: A little standing water I wish it is so bad in the center of my gutters I'm afaide it goings to come in my celling

[Sam Hill]

I'd be afaide as well.

In the *five years* since Colbyt posted his response the standing water has *evaporated* so don't worry about it.

"homeownershub.com - where timeliness doesn't matter"

[DerbyDad03]

...and neither does spelling or punctuation.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm afraide that if I replied I'd be snarky

[BillA]

replying to Home Guy, BillA wrote: I'm like this idea to drain a small amount of water from the gutter. Has anybody tried this? My gutter company told me the porch roof has sunk and the gutter cannot be raised. Similar homes in the neighborhood have a downspout by the porch. I don't want that because I want most of the water directed to the existing downspouts connected to french drain to move water away from my home. Another downspout looks unsightly and would drain a lot of water to the middle of my front yard.

[BryanH]

BillA, this is exactly the question I have. There is a low corner in my gutter that can't be raised. There's a downspout about three feet away! I just want to add a small hole in that corner and somehow attach a tube that runs over to the downspout. Any suggestions on how to add a hose to a gutter like that?