We had 3" gutters installed on the house when we bought it in 1989. They replaced rotting wood gutters and worked reasonably well. They clog easily from the pine needles that are always finding our roof. One at the front was installed with an insufficient slope and was always clogged. Now, after the house has settled even more, this gutter actually slopes the wrong way, spilling water off the wrong end. We decided to replace them with new 5" soffits and new downspouts.
The soffits are probably as old as the last major reno of the house, several decades ago. They are 1/4 inch plywood and are rotting. You could push your finger through them in many places and they are not vented and tend to trap moisture. Time to spend some money! Brooks was up last night and said he would come up and do the prep work, removing the old soffits or cutting large holes in them between every truss to allow for air circulation. The new soffits will be aluminum with ventilation holes.
I have a local company coming to give us an estimate on Wednesday. I will get prices for both standard gutters and LeafGuard gutters. Thank goodness for the "Rainy Day" Fund.
On The Way Home We Stopped To See Elvis
9 hours ago
I highly recommend the leafguard gutters. They really work. And the vented soffits will also keep the house cooler.
ReplyDeleteThanks peter. My concern with the LeafGuard gutters is that 90% of our problem is pine needles, not leaves and I am afraid they will still ride the water flow into the gutter where they will be even harder to clean out because of the leafguard design. Hopefully the contractor will have some advice.
ReplyDeleteCroft,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your concern. Pine needles do seem to flow with water. I will be interested to learn what your contractor has to say.
With all the needles we had in our place in CR, Leaf Guard was a waste of money. We ended up with a screen on top of the gutters for a while, to supposedly allow the needles to wash off the roof and the water to fall into the gutter. That didn't work either.....
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the repairs.
The no LeafGuard thoughts make sense. The estimator did not mention them and I didn't ask.
ReplyDelete