Why do my clean eavestroughs overflow and how do I fix it?

1.      Quantity and rate of rainfall

A gradual but constant rain shouldn’t leave your eavestroughs overflowing at all. But if there’s a huge downpour to where the streets are starting to become rivers, then frankly you just have to accept that our current technology just can’t handle it.

If you have eavestroughs that run twenty or thirty feet, and it’s raining like crazy, there’s just not enough capacity for the eavestroughs to properly manage all of that rain.

So, when you’re looking at the overflow, really get a sense of the amount of rain that is falling. If in doubt, you can always search up the quantity of rainfall in a specific period of time to get an idea. For example, two inches of rain in an hour will make most eavestroughs overflow. However, two inches of rain over a six hour period should be below what your eavestroughs can handle.

2.      Location of overflow

When it’s coming down like crazy, and your gutters are overflowing, check around your house for specific locations. Do you tend to have areas that are more prone to overflow?

You might want to have a professional Winnipeg eavestrough company, such as Denali Exteriors, come and take a look at your setup. It could be that you need an upgraded design or gutter width.

3.      Roof area to drain and pitch of roof

Every roof is going to have its own specific dimensions and angles. What you or your Winnipeg roofing company need to figure out before even starting on the job is the area of the roof to be drained and the pitch of the roof in that area.

Having a bigger roof area with a higher pitch will lead to rain entering your eavestrough system a lot faster than a lesser pitch or smaller area of roof.

In areas where you have a lot of roof and pitch, you might want to consider installing additional gutters to handle the excess and rate of water entering the system. Another option is to install an L-shaped splash guard. Water coming down your high-pitched roof might just be going so fast that its jumping over the eavestroughs altogether.

It could also very well be that you don’t have the proper amount of eavestroughs installed. If you’re unsure, you should probably consult with Denali Exteriors, your local Winnipeg roofer or gutter company.

As an additional planning measure, you could look up average rainfalls for your area, so you’ll have an idea of how much rain you can expect in a year.

Width of eavestrough

The first thing you need to consider is how wide your gutters are. Do you have 4” eavestroughs installed, or did you go with 6” gutters? It could be that your eavestroughs just aren’t big enough to handle the amount of rain you receive in your area.

This is one of the things that you wouldn’t really know how the outcome will be until you actually try it. And if you’re like most of us in Winnipeg, you’re probably not going to go out on a limb and do a complete changeover without really knowing if this is going to solve your problem.

However, if you do have the opportunity to upgrade to a wider gutter, you might want to consider it even though it’ll cost you a bit more up front.

Pitch of eavestroughs

Your Winnipeg eavestrough or roofing company should have installed your gutters with a slight pitch going towards your downspouts. However, sometimes companies, or homeowners for that matter, will forfeit the downward pitch if it compromises the curb appeal of the home.

Other times, people think that they can just plainly get away without having to do it. In all reality, how often do you look into your gutters after a rainfall to see if there is any standing water? Probably not very often.

Tilt of eavestroughs

Apart from your eavestroughs pitch is its tilt. If your eavestroughs are tilting away from your house at a suitable angle, you just might get the overflow of water during a downpour.

Sort of related to the tilt is any damage that might be present where the eavestrough is compromised. For example, if someone somehow pulled on the gutter while they were doing other work and it now has an elongated dent going outwards, this could be a point of overflow.

Recap of what to do if your clean eavestroughs are overflowing

To sum up what you should do in the event that your clean eavestroughs are overflowing, here are three things to consider:

1. How much rain you’re getting when overflow occurs
2. The location of where the overflow is occurring
3. Area of roof to be drained and pitch of roof

When it comes to taking action against overflowing eavestroughs, here are a few things to consider:

1. Upgrading the width of your eavestroughs
2. Adding more eavestroughs
3. Adding an L-shaped splash guard on higher pitched roofs
4. Adjusting the pitch of your eavestroughs to give faster flow to your downspouts
5. Adjusting the tilt of your gutters so that water’s not just easily spilling over