GUTTERS
The last few years have been some of the wettest on record. Rain has led to flooding, ruined landscaping and created leaky roofs, causing homeowners to waste countless hours of time trying to get it all repaired. Did you know that instead of calling out different companies to deal with these problems, you could just make a single phone call? A gutter expert has the answer! Justin Shoemaker is a third generation, family roofing contractor with Real Good Roofing.
Shoemaker said,” proper guttering is all about getting the math correct”!
It has been estimated, that more than 75% of homes throughout Statesboro, Richmond Hill Rincon and Savannah have gutters that are poorly designed and installed.
With an average annual rainfall of 53.58 inches, the state of Florida gets 14.4 more inches of rain than the national average (39.17 inches).
Savannah averages over 47 inches of rainfall annually, making gutters and downspouts a critical part of your home’s roof system.
If you live in a house with 2,000 square feet of roofing (just 20 squares), your gutters must be able to handle over 92,000 gallons of rain each year!
Rain gutters are designed to help protect your home from the elements. Without proper gutters, rain runs down your siding, doors, and foundation, it erodes landscaping, and floods crawl spaces.
Your gutters clog and stop working properly for one (or all) of 3 reasons;
- When the gutters are clogged (debris, bird nests, toys)
- are no longer pitched toward the downspouts
- are too small for your roof
Just How Much Rainwater Can A Roof Collect?
When you watch the news on a rainy day, you may hear “We received an inch of rain today”, and think, an inch of rain would not cover my shoes. Well, that single inch of rain is equal to hundreds of gallons of water running off your roof!
For every 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, just 1 inch of rain will equal 600 gallons of water! |
The formula used to accurately determine how much rain will be flowing off a roof and into the gutter system is simple.
Multiple the square footage of the roof, by 0.6 gallons, and then by the amount of rainfall expressed in inches. (roof squares x .06 x rainfall inches), ex; if your roof is 10 squares and it rains 1 inch; your gutters will need to be able to handle 600 gallons of rainwater, (1000 sq. ft. x 0.6 x 1” = 600).
Gutters are not designed to hang perfectly level with the roof edge.
A minimal slope is needed for proper water drainage.
The drop is ¼” for every 10’ of gutter.
Real Good Roofing, use the rule of tens to calculate proper gutter slope.
Divide the length of the gutter by 10, to calculate the correct pitch.
Also, the larger the downspout, the better for water removal.
The down spouts are actually the most critical part of the gutter system. Although a larger gutter allows more water to be collected off the roof; the trick is to get the water out of the gutter and away from your home.
Think of your gutters as being a big bucket. The bigger the bucket, the more water it can hold. But what happens when the bucket fills up? It overflows! Proper gutters and down spouts will allow the gutter (bucket) to hold a large amount of rain water as it runs off, and the proper placement of large down spouts will keep the gutters from overflowing and move the water away from your home.
Just as important to the size of the down spouts is the amount of down spouts needed. The gutters ability to perform is determined by how many and where the down spouts are located.
You need 1 down spout drain for every 24 feet of gutter.
There are two standard sized down spouts available.
The smaller 2” x 3” square-style will drain 186 gallons per minute.
The bigger (better) 3” x 4” square-style can drain 434 gallons per minute!
Downspout capacity
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On average, Americans use about 69 gallons of water, per person, per day; for bathing, cooking, cleaning and flushing toilets. This does not account for any outdoor use such as watering lawns, washing cars, or pools and hot-tubs. That amounts to about 2,100 gallons a month per person – or only slightly more than you might be able to collect off your roof in a single rainstorm. More and more homeowners are turning to the use of RAIN BARRELS. Using a rain barrel can make a big difference in your monthly water usage and bill.
Gutter Capacity
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Miters
Our professional installer’s secure all miters using pop-riveted seams, prior to sealing. Using
pre-made, box style miter joints to ensure the best water flow around 90 degree gutter angles. Other roofers may suggest that folding the gutter upon itself is a neat and clean way to bend a miter joint, but we disagree. The experts at This Old House say the box-miter corner is THE preferred method, which is good enough for us! As water flows through a gutter, to make it effectively change direction to properly flow around an inside or outside corner can cause a back-up in the system. Stopped water creates leaks; especially if your gutters have debris. Folding a gutter on itself to bend a corner, and puts tremendous pressure onto a thin aluminum strip.
Gutter Fasteners
A gutter system is only as good as the proper fasteners supporting it. We secure our gutters using a steel 6″ hidden hanger. This hanger locks into the gutter lip, making it both impossible to separate and to be seen! Each hidden hanger is fastened where it meets the rear of the gutter using an aluminum 2-1/2″ screw. This screw penetrates through your fascia board and into the roof truss. As a general rule of thumb: a properly hung gutter will need one fastener for every two feet of gutter length.
Down Spouts
The larger the downspout, the better the water removal. The faster water is drained off your roof and away from the foundation, the better!
- Gutter capacity is determined by downspout drainage.
- You need 1 downspout drain for every 24 feet of gutter.
- There are two standard sized downspouts available.
- The typical 2”x 3” square-style can drain 186 gallons per minute.
- The bigger (better) 3” x 4” square-style can drain 434 gallons per minute
- Gutters are not designed to work by hanging perfectly level with the roof edge. A minimal slope is needed for proper water drainage.
- The drop is calculated at ¼ “ for every 10 ft. of gutter.
- Use the rule of TENS to calculate proper gutter slope. Divide the length of the gutter length by 10.
Example; If the length of the gutter needed is 35 ft.
Multiply ¼” by 3.5 equaling 7/8 which can be rounded up to 1 in.
In this example, the gutter would be hung 1” lower on the downspout end
Homeowner: ______________________________________ Rep ____________________________
Pitch: __/12 Height: 1 / 2 Wood fascia: 1” x 6” ______ WRAPPED: ______ Gutters Off:______________
RUNS: _________________________________ DOWNSPOUTS:___________________ IM:__________ OM;______
A Elbows: _________________ B Elbows: _________________ OUTLETS:___________ END CAPS: _____________
Straps: ______________ Hangers:________________
POWER OUTLET:___________________________ HOSE:_____________________ FENCE LOCK________________
FLASHING COLOR:__________________ SPOUT COLOR:____________________GUTTER COLOR;_______________
| CUSTOMER | REP | ||
| ROOF PITCH | ROOF HEIGHT | MATERIAL PLACED
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| Material | U/M | Qty | Order | Measure | Color |
| WOOD SIZES | Ea | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| 6” Seamless | Ft | Ea | |||
| Hidden Hangers SCREWS | 2’ | Ea | |||
| End Caps | Pair | Ea | |||
| Drip Edge | 10’ | Ea | |||
| 3” x 4” Square DOWNSPOUT | 10’ | Ea | |||
| 3” x 2” Square DOWNSPOUT | 10’ | Ea | |||
| STRAPS | Ea | Ea | |||
| Outlets | Ea | Ea | |||
| A Elbows | Ea | Ea | |||
| A Elbows | Ea | Ea | |||
| B Elbows | Ea | Ea | |||
| B Elbows | Ea | Ea | |||
| Zip Screws | Sm | Ea | |||
| Gutter Caulk | Ea | Ea | |||
| Diverter | Ea | Ea |