How to maintain gutters and downspouts for avoiding problems
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How to maintain gutters and downspouts for avoiding problems
An annual cleanup and maintenance job prevents serious troubles with rain gutters and downspouts, in most cases. And simple steps can be taken to prevent most causes of clogging. But there will still be times when a metal gutter has to be patched or realigned, when a wooden gutter cracks or warps, or when a bracket comes loose.
As for the preventive measures to avoid clogging, these include the placing of a leaf guard, or strainer, at the tops of downspouts and, occasionally, the installation of a wire mesh cover over the entire length of gutters. A product known as hardware cloth, with holes 1/4 of an inch, may be used for the cover. The mesh is nailed to the roofing boards, or sheathing, beneath shingles or roll roofing; it may be nailed to the wooden molding immediately above gutters in the case of tile or slate roofs. The mesh is probably not worth the trouble of installation except in neighborhoods where trees are plentiful and large, as it also must be screwed to the outer edge of the gutters.
Look for rust spots on the inside of metal gutters. Rusted areas should be cleaned with a stiff wire brush, then painted with thinned roofing cement or commercial paints made specially for this purpose. Holes probably already revealed themselves by their leaks; they may be patched with canvas, roofing felt or patching material designed for such jobs. (Your dealer probably sells gutter repair kits, containing gutter paint, plastic patching material, a brush and perhaps a scraper.) If you are making a canvas patch, clean the area around the hole, paint the area the patch will cover and press on the patch, then paint on top of it.
Splits inside wooden gutters can be filled with calking compound, wood putty or roofing cement. You may also detect a warped section, leaving a gap between the gutter and the molding of the house; this should be calked.
Rusting out in a metal gutter or rotting in a wooden one may have progressed too far for repair. Surgery is required. The "infected" area needs to be cut out or perhaps the entire length of gutter should be replaced.
Metal gutters, generally held in place by strap hangers (brackets), will develop sagging trouble more often than wooden gutters. In the case of the former, the area that is sagging may be brought into line by bending the hanger. However, if the nails holding the hanger have become loose, it probably will be necessary to reset the hanger. This requires prying up a shingle or roll roofing, moving the hanger an inch or two, and renailing in the new position.
After having gone to these pains to correct gutter troubles, you may want to paint the entire inside of the gutters to avoid problems in the future. Paints are made for this purpose.
When fixing rain gutters avoid compounding any problems by resting the ladder against the gutter. Don't place the ladder against the gutter, if at all possible. The handy man will be able to construct a simple brace or prop to hold the ladder safely away from the edge of the gutter, and yet safe for him, too. One such prop is made by screwing a piece of 2x2 across the ladder rails, then screwing pieces of 1x3's on top of each end of the 2x2 bar.
The idea is that the 1x3's ride just over the top of the gutter, their ends leaning against the wooden molding of the house; the ladder rests about three inches away from the gutter.
Downspouts
Clogging of downspouts can be avoided by the simple expedient of installing a leaf strainer, which we have already mentioned. But if the downspout is clogged, it can sometimes be cleared by dropping a weight (a five or six-ounce fishing sinker would do) down from the top. Tie a string to the weight as the unseen obstruction inside the downspout may not give way, and you would not want the weight stuck too! A stubborn clogging may require the use of a plumber's "snake."
Small holes in downspouts must of necessity be repaired on the outside. Thus, while a patch may be made as on gutters, it should be finished off by repainting the spout for the sake of appearance.
The inside of a downspout may be painted, to lengthen its life, without employing a boa constrictor for the job. Fasten a clean rag to the end of an old broomstick, dip the rag in paint and swab the inside.
A downspout which runs into the ground to connect with a storm sewer or a dry well may have to be removed in full or part to clean out debris that has piled up below the surface. However, if the house is single-story, first try this method to clear the obstruction: hold a garden hose in the top of the spout and have the water turned on full force. It may flush away the obstruction and relieve you of the job of removing the spout.
Water discharging onto the ground from an above-the-surface spout should be steered away from the foundation of the house. A concave slab of concrete (shallow in the middle) is a common and effective splasher. It needs to be tilted away from the house, of course. Where the drainage problem is acute, and no storm sewer is available, pipe is installed below the surface and run from the downspout to a dry well. A simple dry well may be constructed using a barrel or an old oil drum, placed under ground 10 or 15 feet from the house. Bore a hole about six inches down from the top of the barrel and run the pipe to the hole. The barrel or drum should be open at the bottom. Fill it with rocks, then cover the top with heavy planks to prevent a cave-in and replace the earth.
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