# Wrong slant to gutters



## ovahimba (Dec 25, 2007)

I just got a new steel roof and steel gutters. I forgot to mention to the roofers that the edge of the roof was slanted the wrong way for the location of the one downspout and none of the installers noticed. So I have one inch of standing water on one side of the 30' gutter.

Moving the gutter up is not an option at this time since the steel roofing overlaps the gutter and is tacked in with ring shank nails. I would cause a lot of damage trying to remove them.

I would rather not add a second downspout, since its location would be next to the front entry, hosing down shoes as people walked in, or tripping over a pipe if I tried to redirect it.

Someone has suggested flowing hot tar in the gutter to get the slope I wanted. Has anyone heard of this method?

How much will the standing water reduce the life of the steel and caulked seams? That is, should I be worried about this at all?


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Gutter installers can't change the slope of a building even if they did notice or you mentioned it. I wouldn't be concerned about longevity and if it did rust away in possibly 5-10 years replace it with continuous aluminum.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Remove and reslope the gutter.


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## AndyWRS (Feb 1, 2012)

Steel or Alum?

Surely in your location they are Alum, are you sure they are steel?

You have two options at this point, either add a down spout or do nothing.

Depending on the roof type it could be moved up, you didn't specify what roof you have though.


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## eharri3 (Jul 31, 2013)

I don't like the tar idea. It will reduce the holding capacity of the gutters and possibly impede the flow of water.


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## ovahimba (Dec 25, 2007)

Thanks for the replies. I posted some photos below.

The gutters may well be aluminum. The metal is a lot thinner than the 25 year old gutters that were removed and I didn't see any galvanized finish.

The roofing is stone coated steel. The stuff is barely thicker than tin roofing, so if you put a nail remover against it, you would destroy the material and certainly the sand coating.

The roofers were shimming the battens in many places on the roof, so I'm sure it wouldn't have taken them much time to adjust the slant if I had mentioned it.

It was actually the building inspector that told me about the trick with tar. I assume he has seen a lot of stuff. The gutters are 6" deep so there is plenty of space to work with.


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## Davejss (May 14, 2012)

I don't know about you but I always water test my gutters. I snap a line with the appropriate pitch and temporarily tack the gutter in place. Then I dump in a bucket or two of water and test the flow. Adjust if needed then complete the install. 
If your guy didn't do it right, don't pay him until he fixes it.
Creating pitch with tar is a very old, tried and true technique that was used back in the days of wood gutters. It will work with aluminum too I suppose.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Nice looking roof.

Decra shake?

Came out really nice.


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## ovahimba (Dec 25, 2007)

Yes that's Decra shake.

If only they had used screws to attach that last course of tiles to the gutter, then it would have been simple to take off the gutter, add strips of wood to correct the pitch, and reattach.

I can't count the number of times I was easily able back out a mistake because I used screws over nails.


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## AndyWRS (Feb 1, 2012)

It surprises me to see that going on with ring shanks still. 

Those tiles can be removed with a ring shank in them, if your care full with the cats paw and then follow up with the touch up kit...its been done 1000s of times. Room additions, skylights, solar tubes ect... all require the roofing to be modified and screws are just the way to go. 

If I knew the gutter could be re hung to solve this I would pull the nails from the first row only. Not the nails at the back of the first course, just the top nails on the first course near the gutter. You should have enough play in the tiles to re-hang the gutter at that point. Id put it that last course back on with screws in the existing holes...then touch up with the kit provided. If I felt that wasn't going to work, then I'd add a down spout.


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## IslandGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

Since the gutter is aluminum there's no worry of rust. 1" of standing water? I'd let sleeping dogs lie. That'll evaporate out during 1 sunny day.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

I am not sure the gutter is worth addressing either if the pitch offset is minimal.

We always screw in our Decra for just those reasons you mentioned.

Good looking roof though!


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

whats with the closest pipe flashing?and were are the hanger for the gutter?what holds the front edge?


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## AndyWRS (Feb 1, 2012)

It appears to also have the "wrong slant":wink: could just be the camera view.

I think I see a spike in the gutter on the far left or maybe its a hanger I cant tell.

The front edge of the roof does appear to not be fastened also. Unless they nailed it through the nose and the gutter cover is obscuring it. Typically the first row is fastened with a screw down through the top of the tile into the 2x2...or nailed.


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## ovahimba (Dec 25, 2007)

I posted a few more photos

The inner lip of the gutter sits on top of the 2x2 attached to the top of the fascia board. Then the edge of the roofing wraps over the inner edge of the gutter, held in place by ring shank nails.

I wasn't there when they installed the pipe flashing so I'm not sure of the details, but the contractor assured me caulking wasn't the primary defense.

How do you tell if its aluminum or steel? Does it make different sound when you tap it? Does it scratch differently? I thought steel would have been thicker material but maybe not.

I'll leave things as is for now. But later if I ever want to remove the gutter I'll use a tool generally not available to the public. I'll rig an adapter to my portable compressor so I could use my dental drill. Its not really a drill but an ultra high speed router which can obliterate those nail heads. It might cost several hundred in bits and maybe a burnt turbine but everything would come off with no damage.


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## AndyWRS (Feb 1, 2012)

> I wasn't there when they installed the pipe flashing so I'm not sure of the details, but the contractor assured me caulking wasn't the primary defense.


 The flashings seal is not what we were referring to a few posts back, the vent pipe is tilted forward. You should confirm its not broken, it can happen on tear off if they are not careful. 

I am sure they are alum, but a magnet would do the trick.


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