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If the trees are over your property you can cut them back. The tree roots and base may be on a property that is not yours, but you can cut the branches back if those branches are over your property. Just cutting the tree back may help.
If the trees are over your property you can cut them back. The tree roots and base may be on a property that is not yours, but you can cut the branches back if those branches are over your property. Just cutting the tree back may help.
Yes, that would be an excellent solution in many cases, In our situation, the leaves are blowing from woods well back from our property line. It's not just a branch or two, its a whole forest of very old, very tall trees on protect lands. Thanks for offering ideas, though!
I have this same problem, but in my case we have about 34' length of gutters and only ONE downspout on each side of the roof! The water splashes conveniently right on the back patio threshold, thus causing water intrusion under the sill! Yay. We got an estimate to add one downspout to both sides of the roof ($500...includes re-grading the gutters themselves to direct flow) and will probably do this early next year. I am hesitating as I am also weight the possibility of replacing our entire gutter system and upgrading the downspouts from 4" to 6" all over.
I just got a quote on steel mesh gutter guards for about the same length of gutter (50') and it was only a few hundred installed. Of course, this is something that will fit into my existing gutters--not a new system entirely. I live on an acre of woods and have nothing on the gutters now. During the fall, they filled completely and backed up with debris onto the roof within a few hours--we must've cleaned them out 50 times minimum. Quote was from a long-time local place; they did state that given the setting we would need to have them removed and have a thorough cleaning done about once every 3 years. Nothing is perfect. Sounds good to me--heck of a lot better than what we've been doing so far.
I am looking for information from those experienced fixing a problem like this:
We have a 50 foot run of gutters along our house with down spouts at each end. The roof area is approx. 1,000 sq. ft. There is only about a 1 in. drop in grade from the middle towards each end.
There are two problems. First, it is a chore to keep these gutters clean with a wooded yard, and we want to have quality gutter guards installed. The first quote we got was over $5,000. Really?
Second, the gutters don't seem able to keep up with the runoff. The water overflows the gutters with anything more than a mild rain.This happens even after the gutters have been cleaned out. Do we need to have the gutters re-graded or add another downspout?
Thanks!
The odds are that both downspouts used on your 50 ft. run are 2" x3". With that small of an opening, they clog easily, especially with a wooded lot. Before spending a lot of money on the problem, change both downspouts to the 3" x 4" size. That will double the size of the downspout opening as well as
doubling the volume they will allow to drain. As far as leaf screens are concerned, every home is a little different. Cheap leaf screens from Lowes or Home Depot may be sufficient, but don't count on them lasting for many years. U. V. light and heat/cold are really hard on the vinyl they are made from.
Last edited by M. L. Jordan; 07-03-2011 at 02:29 PM..
Reason: Additional Information.....Are you cleaning out the top downspout elbows as well?
I use to live in a house with trees and gutters. I used the clipon screens that are domed and never had another problem. You can flip tehm up to clean the small things that get trhu and which will be needed to be doen about once a year. Mostly it will be dirt and gavel form the shingles as they age.Hd teo runs over 70 feet and it was pretty cheap and easy to put them up. I sold the house about ten eyars later and they were in perfect shape.
We had three problem areas, all on the front of our house, where the amount of water coming off the roof was too much for a 4" gutter and downspout. We had them replaced with 6" and have had no problems. This has been a year to test them around here!
We have a 40 foot run in back and had the same problems with clogging. We cut back tree limbs last year and the problem has been resolved.
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M. L. Jordan
