Gutters are manufactured in a number of different shapes and profiles, but the key components and the way they fit together are generally the same. If you’re curious about the structure of the gutters you typically see on houses, here’s a basic overview of how these traditional rain gutter systems fit together.
How Gutters Are Formed
Most gutters are fabricated on-site by a professional contractor with a metal-forming machine. This ensures that the gutters are seamless, which greatly reduces the chance of leaks. It also enables contractors to create gutters that are custom-sized for the home they’re working on.
Where the gutter ends at the corner of the house, the downspout connects to it via a drop outlet. An end cap is placed on the end of the last section of guttering to give the system a finished look and channel water down the downspout. The drop outlet connects to two downspout elbows, which allows the gutter downspout to curve around the edge where your house meets the roof. Downspout straps are placed every few feet to secure the downspout to your house.
What Happens If You Don’t Have Gutters?
If you’re thinking about skipping residential gutters for your home, you need to understand what will happen if you don’t have them. Instead of water running into the gutters and being carried away from your home, water will instead flow over the edge of your roof and run down the side of the house. This can cause all sorts of problems that gutters would otherwise prevent.
Homeowners without gutters on their home often find that rainwater runs directly down the siding and into the basement, or penetrates the roofline and leaks into the attic. These problems can be very expensive problems to fix, so make sure that you have the right type of gutters for your house.
Learn More About Gutter Helmet®
To learn more about the benefits of gutters as well as why Gutter Helmet® is the best gutter guard system for protecting the integrity of your rain gutter system, give us a call at (800) 824-3772 or visit our website. You can also check out our gutter guard reviews online.
