Using Stone at the Roofs Drip Zone vs. gutters

12 years ago

Hi,

I recently bought a new home in Massachusetts and it has no gutters or downspouts.

I was wondering what the pro's and con's of not using gutters and downspouts verus putting 3/4" to 1" stone around the house were the rain comes off the roofs and hits the ground. Using the stome to eliminate the mud from splashing up on the houses foundation and siding.

We have had a pretty wet spring and early summer and the basement has remained dry.

Thanks

Featured Answer

MongoCT

12 years ago

It's a valid installation.

While I have gutters on my house, I don't have gutters on my front porch, which is about 16' wide and 14' deep. I just installed crushed bluestone (roughly 3/4" stone) over landscape fabric in the raised planting beds that surround the porch.

Just like you wrote, the stone prevents mud splattering.

I do recommend fabric underneath the stone to prevent the stone from migrating down into the soil below and a couple of inches depth of stone on top of the fabric.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
12 years ago
Gutters and downspouts will route the water away from the house.
Depending on how long you run the downspout and whether or not you bury a pipe to run them even farther, you can move the water quite a distance.
Rocks would not move water away from the house and IMO getting water away is important.
Related Professionals
Eagle Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Glendale Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Lisle Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Sheboygan General Contractors · Troy General Contractors · Warrenville General Contractors · West Whittier-Los Nietos General Contractors · Avocado Heights General Contractors · Baton Rouge Painters · Edmond Painters · Cupertino Painters · Darien Painters · Okemos Painters · Oxnard Painters · San Marino Painters
kudzu9
12 years ago
No gutters/downspouts is, in my opinion, often a recipe for foundation damage and/or leaks at some time. If it were my house, I'd put in gutters and downspouts, and install perimeter drainage if it didn't already exist. I would also correct any problems with improper grading (i.e., with the lot sloping toward the house).
brickeyee
12 years ago
If you have a basement you are inviting problems.
MongoCT
12 years ago
A lot of houses in New England are built without gutters, often times it's a design consideration, going for a more authentic look. Sometimes it's simply a cost-cutting omission.

With no gutters, special care is given to grading around the foundation and for water removal around the same; perimeter drains just below the surface of the soil, perimeter footing drains down deeper, as well as foundation wall treatments.

Or this builder might have dumped all the construction debris around the foundation and back-filled over it.

Did this homeowner get a well-detailed new house? Maybe yes, maybe no. But they've written that it's been a wet year and to date there have been no problems.

If you don't want gutters and you've had no water issues, I say try the stone. If you have water issues down the road you can address the ideas of adding gutters then.
claga
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for all the follow-up and opinions.
If I decide not to install gutters can I damage the concrete foundation walls?
Thanks again
A Berryman
last year
I do not have gutters either, and it all has to do with the architectual design-I have a WWII veteran's rancher, with low and wide eves that are 17" out from the foundation, with a hipped roof, so water drains down 4 sides evenly, rather than 2. In this case, gutters are not neccessary, but staying on top of grading IS. You also MUST make sure foundation plantings are OUT from the drip line-not IN it or behind next to your foundation. It is important to maintain a slope of 6 inches of slope per ten feet. Letting organic material from plantings build up is a no-no. Always be sure to clean it out every spring, because decaying organic matter traps moisture and encourages night crawlers that will create soil that is too porous and fluffy. You want SUPER packed silty soul, void of debris. Always be sure that no giant rocks or sand are in FRONT of your path-use pea gravel piled up a bit to diffuse the pounding drops.

I have eroded soil after floppers tore out mature foundation plantings (giant junipers) that held the slope and diffused the dripping, never bothered to regrade, and planted huge plants mere inches from foundation, disturbing soil further. I will be regrading and compacting this spiring and laying black plastic from foundation to drip line, covered in a thin layer of rock to prevent weeds, control erosion and moisture from splash back, and maintain the slope again. All of my shrubs are 3 feet out and down from the foundation, to prevent erosion, and work their roots through compressed sandy, rocky silt, so that the ground perks again.