gutter alternatives?

[Innovate1]

Planning a detached garage. On the house I have gutters that go into underground pipes that go out to where they daylight on a nearby slope. Works good and have several different outlets for front and back gutters. Only problem is that the concentrated flow from one pipe eroded a channel down the hill.

I could put some rip rap at the outlet to spread it out and slow it down a bit. But collecting the water just to spread it out again seems like a lot of work for not much real benefit. Not really a fan of splash blocks under the downspouts.

Wondering if just doing some sort of dispersal device on the eves might be reasonable. RainHandler is one brand. Anyone with experience with those?

BTW, the OHDs are on the gable end and only a man door on the sides with eves (which will likely get a small roof canopy over it).

 

[acer66]

Design it without gutters?

 

[Innovate1]

I suppose I could just leave off the gutters but am thinking the concentrated drip line below the eves would be an issue.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

You might consider something like the louvers that disperse water away from the building. Rainhandler is one brand.

 

[Red 17]

Pipe it away as you've done for the house.

How far down to your water table? I put a couple T's pointed down into a bunch of gravel about 3' deep for one of my gutter drains. Fills up pretty quick, but some of it gets into the ground.

Otherwise you'll deal with erosion control at one point or another, and best to deal with it without having a building in the mix as well.

Good luck with it!

 

[b-boy]

I lived without gutters for about 2 years. I had big ruts in my earth berm around the perimeter of the building. I just added gutters a few months back. They are well worth it.

I have downspouts on each corner. I think that divides the water up, so I don't get a concentration of water in one spot. I just drain them 3-4 feet away from the building.

 

[bob15]

I would keep the piping you have and do the same for your future garage. The further away you get the roof water, the better.

Have you looked in water socks for the end of the pipes? Something like:

https://www.erosionpollution.com/filtersock.html

or

http://www.mutualindustries.com/product/pipe-sock

As seen on amazon:

 

[spudley]

I trenched the drip line from my 2' eaves about six inches down, placed heavy plastic from building out about 30" into the trench, then placed 4" slotted corrugated filter sock drainage pipe in the trench and covered it all with 3/4" washed stone. The pipe drains to daylight 40' from the building.

No gutters to clean, no splash back on the siding. Cheap and dry.

 

[Bretny]

Don't remove gutters if you have a basement or enjoy siding and sheething that's not rotted. Extend the down spout drain more that's erroding.

 

[slowtwitch73]

What Bretny said. Unless the overhangs are massive, you will get splash, and a lot of it, onto the building. Never good, esp in a high humidity area.

 

[tymbo]

In my county, (by code)you must have gutters unless your overhang is at least 24"

 

[wssix99]

Dump it into a cistern hooked up to weeper hoses that water your plants over time. You can then call yourself "green" and get all sorts of points with the neighbors.

 

[zoepop]

I've never liked the look of them so I don't have gutters. I put landscape fabric, edging and stone 2' out from my foundation. Runoff from the roof hits it in the middle and migrates down to my positive drain

 

[Bretny]

I've never liked the look of them so I don't have gutters. I put landscape fabric, edging and stone 2' out from my foundation. Runoff from the roof hits it in the middle and migrates down to my positive drain

It didn't matter what your letting the water fall on. After 8ft of free fall your going to get splashing.

 

[fitter30]

Having rainhandler system on my house with a 12/12 pitch it doesn't work. Roof area 1600 sq. ft. a side.

 

[n20junkie]

My 12’ walls didn’t have gutters for the first year.

What a damn mess of splashing, erosion and water needing to get pumped out of the foundation drains.

 

[Danno1]

Wondering if just doing some sort of dispersal device on the eves might be reasonable. RainHandler is one brand. Anyone with experience with those?

I have Rain Handlers on both sides of my gagrage and the back of my house. They were an interim fix to more extensive water handling methods.

They work as advertised. Have even survived multiple avalanches off the garage roof (Gambrel). And heavy icing too.

They would work even better with a large overhang. Design 24 inches on your new building (unless of course you're in a high wind zone).


.

 

[kmacht]

Why not install a drywell? I had a problem with the gutters on the back of my house washing out the hill that they drained into. I ran the gutter into a piece of 4" PVC pipe that went about 15' away from the house. The end of that pipe went into two 55 gallon plastic barrels that were filled with and surrounded by some 3/4" stone. Haven't had an issue since.

 

[Bretny]

I bet that in the late fall early spring your drywall didn't work. Once the ground is saturated, frozen or just plain rains a lot they get overwhelmed quick. If you feel the need to use a drywall make sure it has a over flow to day light.

 

[kmacht]

I bet that in the late fall early spring your drywall didn't work. Once the ground is saturated, frozen or just plain rains a lot they get overwhelmed quick. If you feel the need to use a drywall make sure it has a over flow to day light.

Its worked fine for 2 years in thr rainy/frozen northeast. The key is to make it big enough yo hold the rain water from a storm so that the water can absorb inti the fround before the next one. I did put a pipe to daylight out of the top of one if tge plastic drums but never had water get anywhere near high enough to come out of it yet.

 

[Stevee]

I have/had RainHandlers with my 6/12 pitch roof with not great results. I am in the process of re-doing my soffits/fascia/etc. and they are coming off - for good.