Gutters -do we need them?

Smiley_Dan

Gutters are used to channel water into dedicated drainage. If you don't have gutters, you would need drainage at the bottom of the walls to channel the water. Generally it's lowest risk to do it at the eaves level.

There's no such thing as a stupid question. Lord knows, the building trade is full of "this is the way we do things" which leads to all sorts of sub-optimal practice. It's perfectly correct to challenge this.

Biggles

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If like I had in my last house, you have cast iron gutters and downpipes, then yes, you paint them every now and again.

Worse. They're galvanised steel. Good in theory, but these days you can't get replacement sections when it rusts through. Cast iron is 'trendy', so you can still get replacement sections.

I'll have to replace the lot before too much longer. I would really hate plastic but cast iron will cost a fortune. Er, not to mention I'll still have to paint them!

EmmyLou30

I have a neighbour who painted his brown plastic gutters white with spray paint....interesting to see how long that lasts as all the joints will be failing given it's age. Would have been cheap enough to replace them with white plastic. Some people are bonkers!

missprice

Well I feel all funny now, I must paint the gutters soon, mine are the original wood ones.

And they are split in places so when it rains it Plinks onto a down pipe joint thing and runs down the wall in one place. No escape from the plink/plonk noise, all four corners do the same.
They will all be replaced later this year with I hope quiet plastic.

leveller2911

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

Gutters are used to channel water into dedicated drainage. If you don't have gutters, you would need drainage at the bottom of the walls to channel the water. Generally it's lowest risk to do it at the eaves level.

Yep , called a "French Drain" and back in the early 80's I worked for a company that built a couple of houses where the eaves were only 4ft from the ground.They had the bedrooms/bathrooms on the ground floor and living rooms/kicthen on the first floor to make the most of the views. They were really quite cool and had French drains all round to catch the water.

There's no such thing as a stupid question. Lord knows, the building trade is full of "this is the way we do things" which leads to all sorts of sub-optimal practice. It's perfectly correct to challenge this.

I agree with you ..........

bigfreddiel

Doozergirl wrote: »

Thatches don't have gutters because the depth of projection at the eaves area takes the water far way enough from the wall to prevent water pouring down them.

Yes, you need gutters. water pouring down the face of the brickwork is a surefire way to cause damp.

What if your tiled roof projected out as far as a thatched roof, that should keep water off the walls?

Cheers fj

Biggles

bigfreddiel wrote: »

What if your tiled roof projected out as far as a thatched roof, that should keep water off the walls?

Like I posted (#6), I have sufficient overhang but there are too many other problems to make going gutterless a practical proposition.

System

bigfreddiel wrote: »

What if your tiled roof projected out as far as a thatched roof, that should keep water off the walls?

Cheers fj

Are you asking because you want to get rid of your gutters?

What kind of roof finish do you have?
The overhang isn't the only thing to consider, the weather surface of the roof generally overhangs sightly into a gutter, if you take the gutter away you are likely to have water blown against the edge of the felt and into the roof structure/facial - if you were doing a new roof it is possible but you'd have to very careful with the details and then making sure you have suitable ground under to deal with the volume of water during a storm etc etc would probably be a lot more hassle than having a gutter...
The other thing is if you have to enter under the eaves you are going to get dripped on if its raining, also the taller the building the more likely you will get water blown onto the wall...
If you really want to do it, it can be done but gutters do serve a purpose

bigfreddiel

the_r_sole wrote: »

Are you asking because you want to get rid of your gutters?

What kind of roof finish do you have?
The overhang isn't the only thing to consider, the weather surface of the roof generally overhangs sightly into a gutter, if you take the gutter away you are likely to have water blown against the edge of the felt and into the roof structure/facial - if you were doing a new roof it is possible but you'd have to very careful with the details and then making sure you have suitable ground under to deal with the volume of water during a storm etc etc would probably be a lot more hassle than having a gutter...
The other thing is if you have to enter under the eaves you are going to get dripped on if its raining, also the taller the building the more likely you will get water blown onto the wall...
If you really want to do it, it can be done but gutters do serve a purpose

Well it would be nice to and if a thatched house gets away with it I can't see why a tiled roof designed properly couldn't either.

fj

leveller2911

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Well it would be nice to and if a thatched house gets away with it I can't see why a tiled roof designed properly couldn't either.

fj

If you look at the Georgian houses in the UK the soffits were always very wide which would help water away from the brickwork. This was a good design aspect but we seem to have very narrow soffits today which means the water comes off the roof close to the brickwork.