Why Installing Gutters on a Garage is Important

A common mistake made by homeowners in an attempt to save money, time and effort is to skip the installation of a gutter system on their garage.  Many think they don't need gutters on their garage as long as they have them on the rest of their house.  If you find yourself with a gutter-less garage, you may want to quickly reconsider because the cost and damage of not having a reliable gutter system can be detrimental.

Help Protect and Maintain Your Siding

If there's one thing that mold and bacteria love, it’s a wet environment.  Siding often has the problem of becoming stained with mold, leaving it an unsightly part of your home.  Not having gutters accelerates the cycle of mold on the siding, as it's exposed more regularly to water. This is also a problem for paint, too.  Painted siding won't stand up well to constant water dripping down the side.  Protect your siding and maintain its looks with a solid gutter system to redirect water away from it. This will save you money on repairs and time, as you'll only having to break out the power washer once a year for normal upkeep.

Avoid Leaks, Drips and Unwanted Water Inside the Garage

Water tends to find its way into every crevice it possible.  Sometimes, even with the assistance of a tough rubber seal lining the bottom of your garage door, water will still find its way inside. A wet garage can be the perfect breeding ground for mold, bacteria and other issues, like the musky smell that'll hit you each time you open the doors. Installing gutters can help guide the water away from your garage, keeping it nice and dry and avoiding all of these potential issues.

Install Gutters to Avoid Ruined Landscaping

Landscaping is hard to establish and even harder to maintain, so don’t let a gutter-less garage be the downfall of your precious hard work.  A garage without gutters means the rain will hit the roof head on, and have nowhere to travel but directly off the sides. What does this mean for your landscaping?  It means that heavy bouts of water will fall directly on plants, flowers and beds, damaging them and eroding the soil away. Too much water on any nearby plants and flowers will overhydrate them and possibly lead to a premature death.   A gutter system will direct water away from the garage and its surrounding beds.

Prevent Costly Foundational Problems

Without gutters, there's a potential for a trench line to form from the water falling off of the roof and directly onto the surrounding soil.  As the water pushes the soil away from the garage, it seeps further down into the earth and eventually, into your garage’s foundation. The last thing a foundation should have is water infiltration. Not only will your soil be eroded away by the water, but so will your foundation.  A foundation exposed to water year round will weaken it, and you'll end up with the extreme cost of renovating the base of your garage.

How to Install Gutters on Your Garage

If you don’t already have gutters installed on your attached or detached garage, now's the time to have them installed. This project is incredibly involved, especially if you're starting from scratch.  Be sure to plan thoroughly and read up and watch plenty of do-it-yourself videos before attempting to do this on your own. If you want to save yourself a weekend or longer of your time or the difficulty in attempting to figure out how to install a gutter system on your own, call in the professionals.  There are plenty of local contractors who are practiced and experienced to get this job done in a timely manner.

Getting Started

Before you head to your local hardware store to purchase the required materials, start with some basic planning.  You don’t want to go into this project blind or have to make countless trips to the store, so go easy on yourself by beginning with a basic sketch of your garage. Step 1: Measure the horizontal length your rain gutters will run. Step 2: Take note of where you'd like to place your downspout locations.  Each downspout usually requires three elbows, available in either a front or side style. Step 3: Count the number of inside and outside corners. Choose a weekend with nicer weather to complete this project; the last thing you want to be doing is trying to install gutters on your garage in the rain. When planning out your new gutter system, try to place your downspouts in inconspicuous areas.  Although they're necessary, downspouts aren't the most attractive. However, this is where you'll be redirecting the water away from your house, so make sure they're clear of any obstacles that may prevent it from doing so.

Purchasing Your Gutters

When you've reached the point to purchase your gutters, you'll find that they're available in a number of different materials such as aluminum, vinyl, or even copper.  Vinyl is perhaps one of the more common gutters used these days, and one of the most cost effective.  Gutters come in standard sizes, but be sure to get a little extra when it comes to length just in case. It’s going to be much easier to lay out all of the gutters on the ground first rather than attempting to figure out the placement of the segments on top of a ladder.  Wearing gloves, use a pair of tin snips to cut the gutter segments to their appropriate lengths. Connect the gutters together with your gutter sealant, rivets and drill. Attach the end gutter caps.  Next, attach the downspout outlet to the fascia with the help of your cordless power drill and do this for each gutter section.  To connect the gutters, on the exterior use connectors and on the interior use your gutter sealant.  This will help prevent leaks. Downspouts can be attached with elbows and a few brackets, diverting the water away from the foundation.  You can also employ the use of a splash guard in order to keep the heavy stream of water from eroding your soil and landscaping.

Installing Gutters on a Garage is Extremely Important

If you're thinking about skipping installing gutters on your garage, think again.  Although it seems like the easy choice for now, imagine all of the repairs you'll be doing in just a few months due to the amount of water damaging the foundation, landscaping and siding, and don’t forget about the musky wet smell inside of the garage if and when water finds its way there. Although this project is probably not meant for a beginner do-it-yourselfer, you can easily hire a local contractor to do the job for you.  Either way, a gutter system is inexpensive in the grand scheme of things, especially knowing how high the cost of repairs will play out in the end.  Whether or not you do this project on your own, or hire a professional, the importance of a gutter system is crucial to the upkeep of your garage. When you need a new garage built, Danley's is here to help. All of our garage have gutters on them when they're built. It's very important for the intrepidity of your lawn and foundation. Get a free quote now for Chicago's garage experts.