Gutters

Rain gutters interact with a building in a number of ways, all of which can solve or create problems on their own. So, it can be a matter of balancing the benefits and downsides before opting for or against gutters and downspouts. The primary purpose of rain gutters is to move water away from the building’s foundation. When the building is situated on level or downwardly sloping land, proper drainage may occur naturally, without requiring gutters to act as conduits. Because the municipal building was designed not to have gutters and the topography is naturally well drained, gutters were not used. The landscaping around the foundation is designed to assist with water issues. Gutters added to the building will over concentrate the storm runoff and create problems with erosion and water quality.

The bricks used on the building were not the original selection and the porous nature of the material may impact the gutter discussion. However, there has been no determination on the impact of gutters on the brick and any action should first have an engineer determination completed. Gutters would require the addition of an underground storm system of drainage ditches with a detention basin.

Ice buildup on the eaves is another problem that gutters will exaggerate. The transition of snow melt coming off the roof is abrupt as the ice falls on to the gutter and splatters breaking into smaller drops.  Smaller drops are more likely to freeze and the ice is spread out more from the splashing snow melt.  Worse, the mounting of gutters positions the accumulated layers of ice underneath the first row of slate. The large amounts of snow and ice have a tendency to tear the gutters off of the building.