Do I need them??? Where we are, be get about 32" per year and it comes at different times of the year. We can go months with no rain at all. Are gu tters just something people install because they don't know any better or d o they indeed serve a purpose. If there is drainage away from the house, d oes it make a difference if the rain falls directly under the eaves or a c ouple of feet out with a gutter spout?
Not every house needs them but they offer benefits. Rain falling off the roof in the same spot will erode the soil and leave a depression. It can make a mess of flower beds if you want them near the house. The higher the house, the greter the force.
Depending or drainage, soil conditions and foundation, gutters can keep water from seeping in through the foundation by routing it away.
Too assume people install them because they don't know any better could make people think you are an arrogant prick.
Gutters allow me to get out the door without the runoff from 20mfeet of roof running down my neck. They also keep from having a trench washed out all around the house, and help keep rain out of the basement window-wells. On top of that, they allow me to collect rainwater in catchment barrells for use over the often long breaks between rain. 3 barrels only catch an hour or two of rain, but that water can be used to keep many plants alive for several weeks of drought. I even put gutters on my garden shed - connected to another barrel. Before I put on the gutters there was always a trench where the water came off the roof.
they can be very useful if you want to collect and store rainwater or avoid the splash of dirt and erosion (if you don't have a surface which can withstand the drips).
we don't have them here, but if we ever have the house siding and eves redone it may be worth it at that point to put some up. though i think they'd end up being yet another place that animals and insects would have to build nests/homes.
with our snows/ice they would need to be sturdy.
songbird
I have screens on mine so I don't have to crawl up and clean them, and with proper slope they drain well, not holding any water for insects to breed. We get lots of snow here in "normal" winters as well.
at different times of the year. We can go months with no rain at all. Ar e gutters just something people install because they don't know any better or do they indeed serve a purpose. If there is drainage away from the hous e, does it make a difference if the rain falls directly under the eaves or a couple of feet out with a gutter spout?
And it splashes back on the house, dirtying the siding. It also provides more moisture there, on the siding, where you don't want it.
And with a gutter, the rain doesn't have to end up just a few feet from the leader, using only one of those short blocks. I have several where 4" pipe takes it much further. Walking under rain pouring off a roof to get in the house is no fun either.
My old rain gutter came down at one end of the house, and I did not bother to put up a new one. It did not take many years for rain water to rot away the bottom of the wall below.
The problem was that you could not see what was happening inside the wall until it was too late!
Fred
Water that falls from the roof to the ground can pool and splash back up, essentially going in the opposite direction to that which the siding is designed for. Sounds like that might have happened to you, ie the water can get underneath the siding at the bottom. I guess how far out the soffit extends is a factor too.
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