Gut-ter Check

Yes, it is extremely bad to have waterspouts near the A/C power panel!

It’s not economically feasible for any management company to perpetually & proactively check for a plugged downspout. What is economically feasible is that we have a look at our own downspouts occasionally when it rains and we complain when we see something going wrong. This post is a “How-To” explainer for D.I.Y. Gutter & Downspout inspection.

You can rest assured that you don’t have to be in the rain to do it, but ideally, you will look at your things just when the rain stops. It’s best to check after a thunderstorm because the rain is heavy and lets up to almost nothing fairly quickly as the cold front passes over us.

Downspouts:

A big sign that you have a problem is seeing this pattern of wet bricks centered on the downspout.

Notice the tall pyramid shape the wet bricks are forming. If it was rainfall directly wetting the bricks, it would be an even pattern of wet bricks. Here the water has filled the downspout to about 3/4 of the pipe’s height. Water is squirting out at the connections because of the pressure and some of it is hitting the bricks.

Let’s have a closer look at the base of that plugged downspout.

Because this photo was taken as the thunderstorm was just finishing, the stack of water was still high in the downspout and was able to dramatically gush water up and out of the fittings. This is very abnormal. Nobody should ever see water emanating from a downspout at any location unless somebody nearby is building an Ark.

It should also be noted that a tree is trying to grow its way out of the underground pipes. That’s universally bad.

This one is similar to the last example. The main difference is the wall looked like it was uniformly wet. A very hard-to-notice thing is a giveaway that it has a problem. The tiny dark spot on the side of the downspout is a leaf poking its way out.

Let’s take a closer look at that spot.

Water Pressure From A Clogged Downspout Pushes Out Debris

A geyser of water shows itself near the connection point of the last segment of the metal pipe. Water is also flowing out of the metal-to-plastic changeover, but because so much debris is in the plastic pipe it sealed up some of the places water should be coming out.

This downspout is also plugged, but the overflow is hard to notice. There are a few points of contention that should have been brought to the attention of the management companies we have had over the years.

The repairs done in the past to fix the plastic-to-metal fittings appear to be hurry-up style work. It seems to have had 4 fixes over time. If the first was done with care, it may have never needed the other repairs.

The plastic pipe has wandered away from the wall over time. It could be due to many reasons, but my guess is it’s throwing water onto the top of the garden instead of the storm sewer pipe is the primary issue. It’s moved so far away that the metal strap on the brickwork can’t reach it to hold the metal part in place.

Let’s look closer at the water flow.

Here we can see the water spraying out of the misfitted connections of the repairs made over the years.

The good news is the pipe isn’t plugged bad enough to push water up and out of the plastic to metal fitting.

The bad news is it was hard to notice that something was going wrong here.

Gutters:

It turns out that it’s hard to record improper water overflow while being rained on and at a focal point about 20-feet above the ground. The important thing to notice here is that an extraordinary amount of water is flowing down onto the mansard portion of the roofing. That should not happen since we added rafter tail extensions and gutters.

Furthermore, if you stand under your eve and look up, you should not ever see water falling from behind the gutter. The connection between the fascia board of the roof and your metal gutter backside should be water-tight. If on a sunny day you stand under your gutter and look straight up and can see light behind your gutter, then you have a problem that needs to be fixed soon.

I have a special case to mention.

If you have some sort of waterfall emanating from your gutter’s edge, and also you DO NOT have water gushing out of the seams of your downspout, then it’s an easy fix for maintenance. That condition would indicate that you merely have a dam of leaves at the top of your downspout. Two minutes on the top of the ladder without any tools will solve that issue.

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