To prevent roof rot and a wet basement,
you have to be willing to do a little muckraking
By Ted Oehmke
This Old House Magazine, March 2000
When Laura and Joe Amicucci first moved into their 1834 house in Fairfield, Connecticut, cleaning the gutters was low on their list of priorities. With three young children and loads of minor repairs and cosmetic fine-tuning to be done, they figured that this one maintenance job could wait until the end of autumn, when all the leaves would be down.
But by the time November rolled around, the large elm tree between the garage and house - its canopy of branches outstretched over both - had shed much of its summer bloom, filling and clogging the gutters. An early freeze turned the still water that was pooled among the debris into ice. Then it rained. Water overflowed from the sagging, ice-laden canals onto the ground next to the fieldstone foundation, snaking its way between the stones. "We came home to a bunch of little fountains squirting water into our basement," says Laura.
Gutters act as precipitation traffic cops, catching water as it flows off
the roof and diverting it from hitting the structure. Smooth-flowing gutters
are essential to the longterm health of a home; water that is not directed
away can crack foundations, stain and rot siding and trim, and seep through
roofs - not to mention ice up on walkways in colder climates. "One way
or another," says James R. Kirby, director of technical services for
the National Roofing Contractors Association, "You have to get the water
away from your house."
Find An Installer In Your Area
The Amicuccis called Keith Roberts, a handyman with more than 25 years' experience, to clear their stuffed gutters. "It's important to have them cleaned at least twice a year - once in the fall and once in the spring," he says from atop a ladder. Roberts has seen his share of expensive disasters: In one Greenwich, Connecticut, home, ice dams sent melted snow from the roof into the walls, causing $7,000 worth of damage. On the other hand, the cost for semiannual preventative care usually runs a mere $60 to $120.
Roberts's first task is to clear the visible debris from the open sections. Scooping up a murky, wet handful of leaves and twigs with a gloved hand, he drops it into a five-gallon bucket hooked to a ladder rung by a chain. After removing the contents from a large portion at the back of the house, Roberts checks for cracks or separating seams. As he works his way around the house, he replaces loose gutter nails with sturdier screws. If he found any cracks, he would repair them by first sanding with 120-grit paper and then applying a butyl gutter sealant or a silicone adhesive.
Finding none, he inspects the downspout. He uses a small power auger, or snake, to push dirt and debris out onto the lawn. Usually, this is enough to loosen any blockages. But if water poured into the top of the pipe doesn't stream smoothly out the other end, Roberts unfastens the downspout and places it on the ground.
Detaching downspouts before cleaning then is always necessary when the flow right into underground drains, since snaking them just pushes clogs farther along the system. Carl Heise, a coppersmith in Fairfield who has made and installed many gutters, uses galvanized sheetrock screws when installing downspouts, specifically to make this task easier. "With screws, you can walk aournd the house with a cordless screwdriver and just take everything down," he says.
With the downspout on the ground, Roberts locates the clog the way one would locate a wall stud, knocking along the surface until the tinny echo becomes a dull thud. Using his thumb to force a spray out of the hose, he aims the water at the clog from both ends of the section. If this procedure fails, he snakes out the block.
Roberts inserts the hose into the underground drain and waits for the water to run clear out the other end. Then he piles small rocks around the point where the drain empties out to keep lawn clippings and dirt from clogging the opening. But he warns: "Never put your hand up the end of an underground pipe - those chipmunks can bite pretty hard. Use a wire or another object to clean the opening."
Roberts reattaches the Amicuccis' downspout, then takes one last look around and spots some mildew on the gutters' sides. After spraying the mottled sections with a mixture of bleach and water, he will come back the next day to hose them down, leaving the whole system sparkling. "Now if I could onlly get my van as clean as I've gotten those gutters," he says, after securing his ladder to the top, "I'd be in really good shape."