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.

They should be in place from the top of your roofline all the way down to the bottom of the ground. 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. 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. Or you can slope the gutters down from each end toward a single downspout placed in the middle of the run.

Gutters should be placed below the extended roof line so that snow and ice can slide clear. That said gutters need to be completely level from front to back or water could spill over either edge. 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. For gutter runs longer than 40 feet it s best to pitch the gutter down from the middle to a downspout at each end.

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. The water should roll off these shingles and drop straight down into the gutter. Steeper pitches require less clearance. 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.

Required clearance of gutter below extended roof line roof pitch clearance below extended roof line 0 in 12 2 in 12 1. 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. If you are installing the downspout on a two story house then you need to add clamps every 5 8 feet. To be safe aim for a 4 foot minimum extension away from a downspout.

Space the guttering away from the soffits so that it is not covered by the eaves of the roof or else the rain will be diverted elsewhere instead of where it belongs. The typical recommendation is one downspout for every 20 to 30 feet of gutters. Gutters should slope an inch or two for every 40 feet. It s not uncommon for homeowners to hang the gutters so that the front edge is slumping forward too much.

The shingles should extend past the top flange of the drip edge.