I am in a desperate need for suggestions on an alternative to a standard gutter system...
We had gutters installed on our home about 3 years ago. Behind our house is a slight incline so a good Alabama summer rain made a pond back there... plus, termites love moisture and the more water we kept away from the house, the better.
We got them on and they looked and worked great... less than a year later (And yes, I cleaned them every other month) they began to sag. And water began to seep out behind the gutters, pretty much ruining the facia wood around the house. I called the gutter installer, offering to PAY to have the angle of these gutter fixed so they drain... never returned my calls. Call after call (even a report to the BBB) and nothing. My contracintg pal heard the guy went out of business. So be it.
This wasnt just in one location, but about 3 spots all around the house. Even in non-sagging places, the facia wood is looking awful, almost water logged.
Cleaning them is of course a pain, and a nice discovery is that it doesnt take long for cockroaches to make homes up there.
So, when I get a tax return this spring, I plan on ripping the gutters off and replacing the awful looking facia board (that kept quite well before the gutters).
My desire is to come up with perhaps a different solution to channeling water away from my foundation. I can see maybe getting some new gutters for the back of the house, to avoid pond-city when it rains... but the front of the house is where I have termites and I certainly hate to give them more water near my house... of course, I have a small swarm each summer, so I dont see how much better the gutters have helped...
Any french drain solution? Or certain types of plant that can soak up a bunch of water around the house? Water running off near doors doesnt bother me. We have an attached carport and never get a drop of rain on us from the house to the car.. and friends and neighbors use our carport door anyway, front door is opened like once a month.
Any suggestions from you pros out there is appreciated. Thanks in advance! Jazz M.