Hello, the rain gutter above my porch collects water and im worried about bugs spawning in there. There is a drain on one side but the water collects toward the center. If i put a drain in the center the pipe would hang over my sliding doors. The gutter was probably not installed correctly but rather than taking it apart,im wondering if i can line the bottom of the center with some material to raise up the bottom and displace the water. Any ideas? thanks
The first question is if it was installed correctly and later the middle moved lower, eg a hanger came loose? If that's the case, you can fix it by moving the middle back to where it belongs and either re-installing a fastener that came loose or putting in a new one, etc. Or it could be something more involved, eg rotting wood that's caused it to move.
If it wasn't installed correctly to begin with, then the best, longest lasting and probably easiest solution is to remove it, then reinstall it pitched correctly. If you have two ladders and someone to help you, it's not difficult. If it uses spikes to attach you should switch to gutter screws, they hold better, won't pull out, etc.
As to bugs, IDK what your climate is, but if it's kept clear of debris most places water if it's only 1/4" or so deep, it will evaporate pretty quickly. I suppose getting some material to level it is a possibility, if the problem is more involved, eg structural, the roof is sinking, etc. and you don't want to address that. The miracle stuff I see on TV late nights, that's like a rubberized putty that works as a sealant should work. It's called Flex Paste, made by Flex Seal. Use a magic marker to mark where the water begins and ends when it's wet, then you'd have to apply it, taper it accordingly in thickness.
Along those lines, I forgot to add in my reply the question of what does it look like from the ground? If it's visibly sagging, that's another reason to do it right.
see if there is enough slope from one end to the other. If not, you have to raise tot he top end or lower the bottom, but it's likely it was installed right and sags in the middle.
Or this,
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there is some reason it's worth the 30 extra dollars. The one above
Maybe you can just tell by looking or use a helper and a taut string to find wheref the gutter is sagging in the middle. If it uses gutter spikes and the nails are loose and that's why the gutter sags,, you can replace the loose ones with gutter screws that will hold better. I got another 15 or 20 years that way
Or, and this might be better and easier, they have a new (from my perspecitive) style of gutter bracket that doesn't require a hole in the front side of the gutter.
I had the same problem. It sagged where the gutter spikes had loosened.
I had my roof replaced this year and the roofer re-did the gutters with hidden hangers, he said they were much better. He raised that section back to where it should be.
My downspouts are all 2x3, and I'm wondering whether it's worth the effort to go to 3x4. Those will handle a huge amount of extra water, and we've been getting more downpours the last couple of years than I ever remember.
IMO the larger ones should always be used anywhere where there are leaves. First place to clog is around the spot where the gutter meets the downspout. Larger opening won;t get clogged as easily. The openings should be rectangular too. Maybe some or new ones are, but mine are round openings going into rectangular downspout.
The problem is - mosquitoes breeding in the water that remains in the sagging eavestrough - if it doesn't evaporate in a couple days it's a good breeding ground for pesky mosquitoes. The eavestrough also becomes a green messy scum trough over time as algae accumulates. Plus - as the OP states - the spill-over might be in a bad spot - like the entrance door. .... read-learn-evolve John T.
Given that the OP said it was over the front porch, good chance any spillover would not be a good thing. But the OP didn't mention that either, only that some amount of water is left in the gutter. It will spill over with less rain, spill over easier if it's partially clogged, etc., but that still could be rare. Depends on how much lower it is in the middle.
On Sun, 12 Jul 2020 05:35:47 -0700 (PDT), snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com posted for all of us to digest...
If you add a substance to the inside of the gutter it will create a dam for the non drain side to collect water. Like the other posters stated there may be a loose hanger, rot or ice damage from the roof. It needs to be consistently pitched toward the drain. We don't know your abilities but you may want to get a gutter co in to inspect and repair...
My sagging is fixed, but in a recent very heavy rain it did overtop. I have only one downspout in that run and it's a 2x3. I'm going to replace it with a 3x4 and see if that helps, but first I'm going to do a 3x4 on my shed for the practice where it doesn't matter.
Before the sagging it would spill out of that one spot and end up near the house. I put a garbage can under that spot to catch it and used a coupling to attach a length of PVC at the bottom to get that water away from the basement. I would have fixed the gutter instead but I knew the roof guys were coming soon and would do a better job. It was interesting, the garbage can would fill up as it was draining, that was a lot of water coming off that one spot.
These kind of problems will be solved if we eradicate the Left.
Too bad we didn't properly heed Joe McCarthy's warning about what was happening in this country. If the Communists had been nipped in the bud there would not be a need for extreme measures today.
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