how necessary are gutters,say on a 3 family
house???? the foundation is protected from the
usual splashing,etc. here in N.E. we had a really
bad combination of storms without any melting
respite and thus many blocked gutters and the
usual leaking problems associated with ice
blockage.. just a thought...would really like the
complete low-down of pros and cons...early on
again ..thanx...all of you have always been very
willing to add your expertise to any problem

Can you have a house without gutters......Yes. Should you have a house without gutters......Probably not.

The main purpose of guttering is to move the massive amounts of water that can collect on a roof away form the house and it's foundation. A house without gutters will soon develop an eroded drain line. Depending on the slope and type of ground, this water may find it's way in to the basement or crawlspace. Proper guttering and downspouts divert this water away from the house.

I'm orginaly from NH.
I would install over sized seamless gutters and down spouts, with hidden gutter hangers every 2', install an outlet in the soffit and run heat tapes in the gutter and down spout.
The biggest thing is to make sure there's baffles and more then enough insulation in the attic, in your area it needs a min. or R-50.
This will prevent ice damms.

I can tell you that I have installed them on my house in AZ, where in a good YEAR we get 7" of rain. It makes a big difference, avoids rot and damage and makes it nicer to walk near the house in the rain. It is a major requirement in my mind.

World of differance between the to locations.

now that we have some discussion going let's
get a little history for the reason behind the
original post.....during the aforementioned storm
we lost our downspouts,but not our gutters and
although i have repaired one of them the other
poses a problem...but...we have left the 2nd downspout alone...now...i have watched during
many storms as the run off from the roof falls
thru the downspout opening and hits the splash block and is diverted away from the house and
effectively watering the lawn...now i'm not saying this is an ideal situation,but it did lead me to try
thru this forum to find the pros and cons about
gutter systems,and i just thought the DIYers
might enjoy the back and forth of something like
this,crazy as it seems...maybe even some wacky
suggestions and solutions...just a thought

Yes, Joe, I realize there is a world of difference. My point is, if I need them in AZ, you for sure need them anywhere else in the country because everyone gets more rain than we do.

If the weather is that bad there I would use gutter straps. You can also purchase attachments for the bottom of the down spouts to send water to the yard. Some fold down some roll out, just be sure to take them off before any freezing.
Gutters for sure..

OK how's about we give the DIYers some
more fodder for our on-going PROs & CONs
of house gutters....about our house...it
is an old farmstead,about 150 yar old..
it is 3 family(2 & 1/2 to the gutters)
it sits on a rock solid 7 foot found-
ation...5 underground and 2 above,there-
fore the house is 2 feet off the ground..
at the base there is a pitched concrete
slab which dutifitly splashes rainwater
away from the house and there are bubbles
around the cellar windows...granted a no-
gutter would produce more water cascading
down onto the slab,there has always been
the water cascading down the siding since
the house was built and this was before the
slab...as for Arizona,aren't a lot of the
houses out there built low to the ground???
anyway...just a thought..any rebuttals???

was built,and the

WOW!.... Just do what you want dude.

The wider the eaves extend past the house's outside walls (on a hip roofed house), can also determine if gutters are really needed. Assuming there is enough slope to allow all runoff water to drain away from the foundation. I believe there were some Frank Lloyd Wright homes that had this feature, all around the house the eaves extended maybe 4 feet?

OKAY...some more fodder
Conrad ,your post sent me scurrying...
i had someone drive me slowly(and safely)
around some of our local neighborhoods and
i spotted at least 25 structures without
gutters...and more than a few of them were
vintage schools and churches...admittedly
too most of them were older houses,etc and
they were all of at least two to three
stories high...and on most the overhang was
no more than that on my home...and too most
of these structures were well sealed at their
base,many with concrete all around(except of
course many of the homes)...again....
just a thought

We only have gutters (with snow breaks) on one side of our mountain home. And a short section over one side over a kitchen door.

The eaves are not wide, but this is CO where the soil is very dry/rocky, and any runoff leads away from the foundation.

The reason they are there is so the deck does not have a deluge of water/snow melt on it, and we don't have it running down our necks when we step out of the deck doors.

Many residential developments actually require gutter systems to divert and lead water away from foundations (both yours and your neighbors) as there is not enough room (or planning) for proper slope between homes. That is my theory anyway.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Conrad,

HEY CONRAD....GOOD ANSWER...this is what i
was hoping for with my original post..out
there in DIY land there are as many solutions
as there are situations which require the
gutters....thanx for this one,it makes sense
don't get me wrong,i believe in gutters
i just thought there was probably many
situations where gutters could,of necessity,
not have to be used or be totally mandated..
any others??? let's hear about them



y

Take another look at some homes that against code the home was built to close to the ground, almost any shed, homes with decks built attached to the side of the house, homes with doorways even with the thresholds of the doors.
In most causes with no gutters your going to see siding, sheathing, rim joist and subfloor damage.
Check around on this and any DIY web site for some pictures people have posted of what there having to deal with.

i'm baaaack...just an update of sorts...to all the responders...thanx for all your input..first up
JAYBEE,you supplied the first input it being the logic of why gutters are necessary...then there is
you JOE with your usual rules,regulations and guide
lines...then there was MOSTERNAZ who most logically
had to put gutters out there in Arizona...RON45 you
chipped in with additional options...and you CONRAD
seemed to have an open mind about gutters and then
shared with us your solutions to having no seemingly
necessary gutters,but making sure your entrances were taken care of...and now some more history of our situation...first off i had mentioned in one of
my previous posts that we lost two downspouts in a
srorm and replaced one...now for my wife's sake and
the old saying..'better safe than sorry'we have fixed the second downspout...heck the gutter was already there anyway...now more history...many of
you have probably heard of the 'perfect storm'that
was made into a movie..well we had sort of a that
type of storm system back in 2011..in late Jan and
early Feb.we had five storms in seven days with a
total of 22 plus inches of snow..and..NO MELTING
state emergency was declared as countless roofs
caved in and the roofers were 'out straight'...
we had some water damage from 'ice blocks' that
formed...and another thing is that this slope of our
roof is dead north!!!no sun at all and as the roofer said,when the snow finally started sliding
off the roof it just clogged the gutters and without
any melting the roof itself warmed a bit and it just
plain backed up until it found a small entrance and
then proceeded to run down a rafter and down the wall...as all explained a very long shot on this ever happening again this way..don't really know
if non-gutters would have allowed the snow to fall
freely...let's hear about options to prevent this
type of thing happening in the manner it did
but most important and impressive to me is the
response from all of you and your welcome input
regardless of where this debate goes,my heartfelt thanx to all of you DIYers

Is there Ice and Water shield under those shingles up at least 4'?
Is there soffit vents that are not all cover up with insulation.
What venting do you have on the rest of the roof.
How much insulation is in the attic?
Was there heat tapes in the gutters and down spout?

I totally agree with Jaybee.
Gutters in house and specially on roof removes the water and helps in maintaining the roof. Roof without gutter can have a lot of standing water which may further lead to many problems like leaks, mosquitoes, diseases etc. So gutters are necessary to have proper sewage facility.

jUST CHECKING AGAIN.......
first off,welcome Henry,made some god points about standing water...more about that later...
although i have installed a gutter system on my enclosed deck,i am not gutter-wise...soooo Joe tell
me about ice and water shields,and soffit vents..
heating tapes and the such i am familiar with,
having helped my B-I-L install them on his single
family home...venting,insul,etc. are standard nec-
essities in top attics,but ours is an unused side attic and after our little 'perfect storm'incident
our roofer advised us to continue to keep this area
cool...now i know this will really prompt response.
now about standing water...this can happen even in the best of gutter situations....all one needs
is a depressed area that does not soak up the water rapidly and 'viola' standing water...it is then the duty of the resident to sweep the water to a more
acceptable area....i have aseen this even when roll-out downspouts are used to send the water further out away from the structure...so basically standing
water is just something we all deal with,hopefully
in a timely manner for the wellbeing of all......
i sure expect some rebuttal on this one...thanx