Gutter Questions

[KingConstruction]

Im in the process of buying a HUD house that was built in 1890. In the escrow HUD said I needed to have gutters put on the house. My problem is the eaves are open, no soffit exists and it has rounded rafter tails. I would prefer not to close it up because I would like to keep the house somewhat orginal on the outside to keep it fitting with the neighborhood. Has anybody had to do this before?

This is the best picture I have at the moment of some of the rafters, I will try to take some better ones tonight

You can see in the bottom of this picture that they just nailed a 1x4 on and attached the gutter to it just more as a safety thing because this is where the stairs are to the front porch and entrance and it looks kinda crappy so I will be redoing this area and maybe the area on the back deck the rest of it im just going to grade the yard so the water runs away from the house

 

[TONE]

How many bats do you think live in there?

I understand you like the look of the original design but soffits and gutters would improve the home

 

[Herb]

Classicgutters.com!

 

[Jazz]

Are gutters always necessary? I know they are needed in this case for the loan, but I'm on a wooded lot and really considering getting rid of mine altogether. They seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

 

[walrus]

Are gutters always necessary? I know they are needed in this case for the loan, but I'm on a wooded lot and really considering getting rid of mine altogether. They seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

I think it depends on the lay of the land. How much slope away from your house, how much splash back your going to get on your siding, if its wood, does that mean rot?. Gutters are a pain but they keep water away from house and foundation if done right

 

[gfd_703]

Just took all mine off. Did not have time to clean gutters 2 to 3 times a week in the fall. If possible keep the house as is.

 

[Aberdale]

Are gutters always necessary? I know they are needed in this case for the loan, but I'm on a wooded lot and really considering getting rid of mine altogether. They seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

Good question. Walrus is right. It depends. The house I have now has two huge sugar maples that drop flower buds in April, seed pods in May, and leaves in the fall. Cleaning the gutters on a 2 story house is definitely a PIA. My last house was designed and built without gutters. A 6 foot concrete apron was poured completely around the house at a slight slope away from the foundation. It worked great, no gutters, no moisture in the basement. If I build another house, I would definitely do this again, but make the apron 20 feet to create a patio/parking area clear around the house.

Dale

 

[Jazz]

I also have the gutter cleaning problem. I'm considering putting Rainhadlers on critical locations and rain diverters around the doorways. I am about to have the house reroofed so its a good time to do this and I also need to make some decision. My house is on a crawlspace and the drainage is great. No water pools near the house so that's not a problem. Honestly I haven't been keeping my gutters clean enough and I'm tired of cleaning them. I really hope there's not any real damage at this point.

 

[walrus]

I also have the gutter cleaning problem. I'm considering putting Rainhadlers on critical locations and rain diverters around the doorways. I am about to have the house reroofed so its a good time to do this and I also need to make some decision. My house is on a crawlspace and the drainage is great. No water pools near the house so that's not a problem. Honestly I haven't been keeping my gutters clean enough and I'm tired of cleaning them. I really hope there's not any real damage at this point.

You ever watch, Holmes on Homes? He has a gutter guy that puts some kind of a perforated lid on the gutter. They talk about it eliminating icicles and keeping the gutters clean. Not sure how good it works. I doubt icicles are big issue where you live but in Canada and in Maine...

 

[Red05GT]

The old fashioned round bottom gutters would fit the period look of the house but
would be pricey. There are many new systems that use a perforated diffuser to dissapate the water runoff, still very pricey. Temporary aluminum gutters to get through
closing, might be easier than argueing with burecrats. The open rafter tail details when
preserved can look good, but many times there is no soffit ventilation.

 

[KingConstruction]

I have thought of going to lowes and just buying the premade stuff and throw it up for now, in looking around some I found this company called The Bungalow Gutter Bracket Co. and it looks like they might have something I could use. I just dont want to spend a bunch of money on gutters right now when I am going to come back and re side the house in a couple months

 

[GarageEnvy]

I'm curious about your original statement that you're buying a HUD home and they are requiring the installation of gutters. Are you buying a home that HUD owns and they are the seller or are you purchasing the property with an FHA insured loan. I am an FHA approved appraiser and I can tell you in my region it is not a requirement to have gutters. It is a requirement that there be proper drainage away from the house so it may have something to do with that. Who is requiring the installation? Is it a condition by an FHA appraiser or the underwriter? I think you need to find out a little bit more of who is requiring this and why. There are some regional differences in what is required but there's also a lot of misinformation and subjectivity on these requirements.

 

[KingConstruction]

HUD is the one that noted that $1100 is needed in escrow for gutters and downspouts, so my agent is trying to get ahold of them and find out if thats required or not cause that is the the only thing that is holding the underwriter up, everything else is ready to go. On the inspection that HUD had done and also on my inspection both agents marked that the gutters were missing, but looking at the house, there were never any gutters on there to begin with

 

[kbs2244]

If you use those brackets you can reside behind them.
If HUD requires them you don’t have much choice about putting something on.
You might want to just slap something cheap on to fill their requirements and then tear it off when the coast is clear.

 

[Zrexxer]

I've certainly never heard of a lender - even HUD - requiring a buyer to make improvements to a property in order to purchase it...

 

[KingConstruction]

I've certainly never heard of a lender - even HUD - requiring a buyer to make improvements to a property in order to purchase it...

I know on one house I was looking at buying, in order to do FHA financing, I would have needed to get the house repainted cause the paint was peeling on it. It wasnt a condition that had to be met before the house was bought but needed to be taken care of within a few months after or something to that effect

 

[GarageEnvy]

I've certainly never heard of a lender - even HUD - requiring a buyer to make improvements to a property in order to purchase it...

Oh I can tell you from an appraiser's perspective it is quite the contrary. The good news is that in 2005 they backed off a lot of their more ridiculous stuff but essentially anything that can be considered a health and safety or enclosure problem can still be a condition that must be fixed. I have to require peeling paint be fixed on any house built prior to 1978. Smoke detectors, broken windows, unstrapped water heaters, exposed electrical are probably tops on the list but I've had things as obscure as removing bee hives from walls in the past. There used to be a 5 page list of areas that had to be addressed. Each area could have any number of conditions.

 

[Falcon67]

I've certainly never heard of a lender - even HUD - requiring a buyer to make improvements to a property in order to purchase it...

FHA will. We had to have work done on a NEW house in Houston to get an FHA backed loan. The builder had to rework the yard to provide a certain slope away from the house. Never mind that it worked fine as is, there was some spec that had to be met.

 

[Zrexxer]

Oh I can tell you from an appraiser's perspective it is quite the contrary. The good news is that in 2005 they backed off a lot of their more ridiculous stuff but essentially anything that can be considered a health and safety or enclosure problem can still be a condition that must be fixed.

OK, I didn't express myself as clearly as I should have... not the first time... lol - and yeah, I can see what you're saying, if the property is in substandard condition then of course the lender needs to protect their investment as well as their liability.

But seriously... adding RAIN GUTTERS to a historic house as a condition for financing??? Just doesn't make sense to me. Crazy word we live in sometimes.

 

[RPH]

Icicles can be a problem here in Michigan too! I hate the ones that hang from the bridges. Feel one day they will come crashing down when I'm driving under them, some of those suckers are huge.

 

[mmhouse]

The house has been there for 120 years and NOW you need to add gutters to it?

Go figure.

 

[Kevin54]

Check with some local gutter companies. They have brackets to hang gutters with all types of situations

 

[kartracer23]

You can get brackets that tuck up under the shingles and hang down so the gutters don't touch the house at all. Similar to the photo you posted, but they don't attach to the rafters. That style is actually better than traditional gutters since they're spaced away from the soffit and can't trap any water - it rolls off the roof and falls into the gutter. They look cool, too. Traditionally, they take a half-round gutter vs. a K though, so plan to spend a little more.