How Far Should Rain Gutter Attachments Be Placed

A lot of homeowners wonder how far their extensions should go.

How far should rain gutter attachments be placed. Use longer extensions to make sure you re getting all that water away from your home. Required clearance of gutter below extended roof line roof pitch clearance below extended roof line 0 in 12 2 in 12 1. The water should roll off these shingles and drop straight down into the gutter. It s not uncommon for homeowners to hang the gutters so that the front edge is slumping forward too much.

If you are installing the downspout on a two story house then you need to add clamps every 5 8 feet. The next factor to take into account is the pitch of your roof because the pitch will cause water to flow in a certain direction. The shingles should extend past the top flange of the drip edge. Factors like location accessibility and landscaping come into play so it s not always a clear cut answer.

Steeper pitches require less clearance. If wind blown rain or a very low slope roof conspire to force water back under the shingle eaves edge so it courses down the face of the drip edge it should be able to drip off the bottom kicker. To ensure that gutters drain properly make certain they slope inch for every 10 feet toward a downspout. In order to place the downspout at each corner you will need to get up on a ladder and run the gutters into the downspout.

Most new gutter sections come in lengths of ten feet and it should be placed where there is the maximum chance of rainwater falling from the roof and into the gutter. That said gutters need to be completely level from front to back or water could spill over either edge. For rainy climates where gutters will handle a larger amount of water for long periods they should have a maximum distance of 18 inches apart between them. Gutters should slope an inch or two for every 40 feet.

Gutters should be placed below the extended roof line so that snow and ice can slide clear. The typical recommendation is one downspout for every 20 to 30 feet of gutters. They should be in place from the top of your roofline all the way down to the bottom of the ground. Or you can slope the gutters down from each end toward a single downspout placed in the middle of the run.

If you live in a warm place with sporadic rain you can hang gutter hangers close to the middle of the gutter with a spacing of no more than 36 inches or three feet apart from the center.