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.

Jazz wrote:

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.

Number 1 on your list should be to fix the slope of the earth around your house
such that it naturally drains away from the house. Anything else is a bandaid
waiting to fail.

I rented a bobcat for a day and a local builder let me take fill of a nearby lot
to make a nice berm along the back of a house with a drainage problem. You could
probably hire someone to do the same for you.

I kept using standard gutters, but if you have a leaf problem, you might also
look into what looks like truely self cleaning ones. They look like almost
horizontal shutters about 6" wide and do not require downspouts. Here's one such
example: http://www.rainhandler.com/shop/index.php I've not used these and have
no idea if they work well, but they look promising.


--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Thanks for the quick and kind reply.

The previous owner made what "looks" like a french drain along the
part of the back of the house that would get the most water.... I
suppose I could use that in leu of gutters...

But yes, I suppose I would need some landscaper to come out and shift
the angle of the ground behind my house so that is moves away from the
house. Hasnt been a problem in the past few years... to which I
attribute to the gutters and the lack of rainfall we have seen in the
south.

On Dec 10, 4:39 pm, Rick Blaine wrote:
Jazz wrote:
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.

Number 1 on your list should be to fix the slope of the earth around your house
such that it naturally drains away from the house. Anything else is a bandaid
waiting to fail.

I rented a bobcat for a day and a local builder let me take fill of a nearby lot
to make a nice berm along the back of a house with a drainage problem. You could
probably hire someone to do the same for you.

I kept using standard gutters, but if you have a leaf problem, you might also
look into what looks like truely self cleaning ones. They look like almost
horizontal shutters about 6" wide and do not require downspouts. Here's one such
example:http://www.rainhandler.com/shop/index.phpI've not used these and have
no idea if they work well, but they look promising.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

I am in a desperate need for suggestions on an alternative to a
standard gutter system...

I'm a real newbie to such things but I wonder if a
person were going to build say a new home if any value
to building an A-frame as a means to ELIMNATE gutters?

In other words...... since an A frames roof comes down
to ground level..... could a person get away with no
gutters at all?

wrote:

I'm a real newbie to such things but I wonder if a
person were going to build say a new home if any value
to building an A-frame as a means to ELIMNATE gutters?

A-Frames look nice in certain settings, but are inefficient to heat/cool and
difficult to utilize all the floor space with the sloped walls.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Thanks for the info all, but I am thinking about true alternatives to
gutters... such as certain landscaping, small ditches around the
house, things of that nature...
thanks for the comments...

On Dec 11, 1:29 pm, Rick Blaine wrote:
wrote:
I'm a real newbie to such things but I wonder if a
person were going to build say a new home if any value
to building an A-frame as a means to ELIMNATE gutters?

A-Frames look nice in certain settings, but are inefficient to heat/cool and
difficult to utilize all the floor space with the sloped walls.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Jazz wrote:
Thanks for the info all, but I am thinking about true alternatives to
gutters... such as certain landscaping, small ditches around the
house, things of that nature...
thanks for the comments...

How about a sump and a sump pump?

Rick Blaine wrote:

I'm a real newbie to such things but I wonder if a
person were going to build say a new home if any value
to building an A-frame as a means to ELIMNATE gutters?

A-Frames look nice in certain settings, but are inefficient to heat/cool and
difficult to utilize all the floor space with the sloped walls.

OK but what abt a small A frame? I live alone and
don't need much space

The A frame is attractive to me form the aspect that it
is ALL roof and appears to need little maintenance!

I'm looking for home designs that ELIMINATE maint....
not create it...hence the questions.

wrote:

OK but what abt a small A frame? I live alone and
don't need much space


Size is immaterial. For a given square floor footage, A-frames cost more to heat
because of the large volume of space above the living area that heat rises into
and the lack of attic space for insulation. It's also difficult to place
furniture in them because of the sloping walls. They're used in areas where the
snowfall makes them mandatory or as summer homes where heat isn't a concern.

More is relative of course. If you live in an area where you don't heat much,
they might work OK.

You can look into modified A-frames. These are more typical houses with an
A-frame great room attached. They would have a standard roof over the
traditional part though.

The A frame is attractive to me form the aspect that it
is ALL roof and appears to need little maintenance!


All roofs need maintenance at some point. However, a well constructed house with
a traditional roof for your area should outlast the time you spend in it. Many
people think spanish (concrete) tile roofs are no maintenance - they aren't.
Metal panel roofs are probably the closest thing to no maintenance.

Or a cave.

I'm looking for home designs that ELIMINATE maint....
not create it...hence the questions.

Then you need to be looking at a townhome, apartment or condo where someone else
is responsible for maintenance. These options carry their own baggage of course.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

I live in a neighborhood with 500 homes. 200 or so of them are less
than 5 years old, but the neighborhood has been here for about 25
years.

I kid you not, I may very well be the only person in the neighborhood
with gutters all the way around the house.

Are the builders and owners just idiots? Or do they know something I
dont...

I keep thinking when I am on a ladder cleaning out gutters in teh cold
pulling out crap that smells like sewage crawling with cockroaches
that my neighbors are jealous of me, but when I see their facia board
is in great shape, and their homes arent sinking, I cant help bt think
they are laughing at me and I am the fool who blew 3 grand on gutters
that have done more harm than good.

On paper, gutters may be a necessity for every home, but ive given
them about 3 or 4 years on mine, and they have ruined my home. I cant
see paying 3 MORE grand to have them "installed right"...

On Dec 11, 3:46 pm, Rick Blaine wrote:
wrote:
OK but what abt a small A frame? I live alone and
don't need much space

Size is immaterial. For a given square floor footage, A-frames cost more to heat
because of the large volume of space above the living area that heat rises into
and the lack of attic space for insulation. It's also difficult to place
furniture in them because of the sloping walls. They're used in areas where the
snowfall makes them mandatory or as summer homes where heat isn't a concern.

More is relative of course. If you live in an area where you don't heat much,
they might work OK.

You can look into modified A-frames. These are more typical houses with an
A-frame great room attached. They would have a standard roof over the
traditional part though.

The A frame is attractive to me form the aspect that it
is ALL roof and appears to need little maintenance!

All roofs need maintenance at some point. However, a well constructed house with
a traditional roof for your area should outlast the time you spend in it. Many
people think spanish (concrete) tile roofs are no maintenance - they aren't.
Metal panel roofs are probably the closest thing to no maintenance.

Or a cave.

I'm looking for home designs that ELIMINATE maint....
not create it...hence the questions.

Then you need to be looking at a townhome, apartment or condo where someone else
is responsible for maintenance. These options carry their own baggage of course.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars