"We Don't Need Gutters"

In addition to being a home inspector, I am also an infrared thermographer - the two don't always meet in the middle - and I have been keeping busy checking on wet basements for the last two weeks.

As many of you know, the Pacific Northwest has been getting hammered by snow.  That has caused all sorts of hazards on the roads and roof collapses and several deaths - one when the snow on a roof slide off and buried an elderly lady on her sidewalk.

But what you may not know is that we also had a brief warming trend, leading to flooding in ours waterways and streets.  Much of this water made it into homes as well with the usual results in wall and flooring damage, potential health hazards and additional expenses right when homeowners can least afford them.

After doing several houses, a theme emerged.  Now I'm going to digress for a second: the Inland Northwest is much drier than the coastal regions.  so much so, that when I did insurance inspections for Allstate, I actually received enormous criticism for writing up homes for a lack of gutters.

It seems that in dry regions, people consider gutters optional especially on older homes.

It is these same houses that are having major flooding issues.  Normally there are many homes in Moscow and Pullman that have dampness in the basement.  For years, I've encouraged homeowners to get a good drainage system installed. 

Sometimes, they listen.

The problem is simple.  The roof acts as a huge rain collector of several thousand square feet.  When it leaves the edge of the roof, it consolidates into a ribbon several inches wide.  In other words, an inch of rain on the roof could resemble a foot (or more) of rain flooding the foundational area of the home.

So when I have clients question the value of gutters (and keeping them clean - see Steven L Smith's post here), I take them through the process until they understand.

It's not a matter of how much rain hits our region; it's what happens when it does.