Rain on a window

[sepefrio]

Having a little problem at a family members house that I just can't find the cause to. And it's not just me, 3 roofers and 1 general contractor could not figure it out either.

I'll try and get some pictures later to set the scene but not sure how helpful they will be. What I'm asking here is

1) Anyone seen this before

or

2) Can you think of things I can do to attempt to find the cause

The situation is simply rain slapping against a window. It appears an inordinate amount of water funnels to this 2-3 area and some how wraps around, behind or through the gutter somehow, follows the soffit about halfway towards the house then falls diagonally and strikes the window directly. From the inside of the house it sounds like someone is outside and has a hose directed at the window. The volume of water is almost as great as well.

What I have tried so far....

Put a hose in the gutter to look for leaks, and nothing. It drained as advertised. (The gutters do have a leaf guard installed)

Run a hose on the roof trying to duplicate rain, but no luck.

Used tape to seal the seam between the gutter and the facia as well as any other seam I could find. Problem remained at next rain storm

Stood in front of the window with a large piece of card board to block possible wind driven rain, no change at any angle.

My cousin even installed a 8ft section of rain diverter on the roof (against my advice), no change.

Some things of note, like I said there are leaf guards on the gutter, but they swear this problem existed before they were installed too. The location this happen is about center of a long straight run. The closest valley is about 10ft away. I see no signs of any type of water damage or any damage in the attic for this section of the roof.

What I was thinking of doing next was getting on the roof again with a hose and some type of confetti. I'm thinking the confetti would more easily show me the water flow.

What is obvious to me is that the volume of water tells me the water is coming from more than just directly above it. It is being funneled from someplace else too. I've probably stood in the rain watching it for 2 hours now (over several storms) and the only thing I have achieved is in getting wet.

Any help, advice or comments would be nice. The noise of this effect is driving them mad and they are considering bricking over the window.

Until I get some pictures this might help to set the scene. It happens almost dead center of the window on the left. The picture is a bit old so you can't see the diverter, but it extends past both sides of the window.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 6,,1,-4.87

[Jim Katen]

As an experiment, go get a piece of L-shaped flashing and screw it to the bottom of the fasica, just behind the gutter. Make one leg of the L point down. The water should then hit the flashing and drip to the ground instead of following the soffit back toward the window.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Steven Hockstein]

I had a similar problem with a gutter over one of my windows. When I checked carefully I discovered that a tree branch had fallen on the gutter and dented the outside edge. This resulted in the water funneling over the gutter guard and out at the small the dent. During heavy rains it seemed like a hose was running onto the window.

This condition would not have happened if I did not have the leaf guard installed on top of the gutter because the outside gutter edge does not affect the water flow when the gutter is not covered.

I repaired the gutter and the leak stopped.

[Rob Amaral]

On another note, has anybody have the dope on those 'gutter guard' brand gutters? There are not many up here but when I do see them, they do seem to be performing well... My concern is pollen build-up that will skank them up eventually. No 'end cleanouts'.. Anybody?

[hausdok]

On another note, has anybody have the dope on those 'gutter guard' brand gutters? There are not many up here but when I do see them, they do seem to be performing well... My concern is pollen build-up that will skank them up eventually. No 'end cleanouts'.. Anybody?

They seem to do a really good job of collecting roof debris on top of the gutters until it builds up to the point of forming a dam and causing other issues.

There just isn't any good substitute for cleaning the gutters properly.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bob White]

I've had these gutters on my house for over ten years now --- never had to clean them, and they're still performing great....

down here in NW Georgia, I don't have to worry about freeze/thaw stuff, though...

[Les]

I think Katen is on the right track. Had a similiar problem couple of years back and the cure was running a 3/8" bead of caulk at the facia to soffit seam. Facia was overlapping soffit material approx 1/2".

I have had gutter helmet system on couple of houses. My own personal house (one storey) they performed very poorly and were removed after two years. On a rental house (two storey) they have done a great job.