Monroe Gutter Replacement & Gutter Guard Installation

Gutter on porches and low-slope roofs

Porch roofs, additions and low-slope sections behave differently from the main roof and often get the same gutter specification anyway. A low-slope roof delivers water to the edge more slowly and in a wider sheet than a steep one, which sounds easier and introduces its own problems. Water moving slowly is more likely to be pushed back under the roofing by wind, and more likely to leave debris sitting where it lands rather than washing it to the outlet. Pitch on the gutter itself matters more here, not less, because there is less energy in the flow to move standing water along. There is a second issue specific to porches. A porch roof frequently discharges onto a walkway, steps or a deck rather than onto ground, so where the downspout terminates is a safety question in winter as much as a drainage one. A downspout emptying across a step will produce ice exactly where people walk. Running it to the side, or tying it into a line that carries the water past the traffic area, is a small change at installation and difficult to retrofit gracefully.