Water Running Behind Gutter

This does not allow the water to be carried far enough out.

Water running behind gutter.

Left long enough the water runoff will cause damage to the roof shingles as well as your home s facade. When it rolls over the edge it follows the contour of the edging and makes its way behind the gutter. Capillary action is when the molecules in a liquid have a greater attraction to the surface of a solid than they do to each other while traveling along that surface. When the roof shingles do not extend past the metal drip edge the water will suck back on the metal drip edge this is called capillary action and run behind your gutters.

Some of the water may leak behind the gutters down towards the soffit and the fascia. Drip strip is designed to fill the gap between the bottom of the drip edge and the top of the gutter to insure the water will flow into the gutter preventing any damage to your fascia or. One main cause is simply not having enough overhang on the roof edging or the roof covering itself. Therefore when the water goes over the edge of your roof it will stay attracted to the surface of the drip edge and run behind the gutter.

If the gutter is clogged some of that water will back up on the roof soaking it. The reason water flows behind gutters is a combination of a few things. On some homes water tends to drip behind the gutters down the fascia and soffit and then either down the side of the house or straight to the ground. Water gets behind the gutter if water is dripping behind your gutter it s probably because it was installed without any flashing over the back of the gutter.

Capillary action is a water activity in which water adheres to a surface and follow the surface around. The gutter apron will prevent the dripping. Unfortunately it doesn t always work that way. Many of the solid gutter covers are design to take advantage of this water characteristic.

If you re not closely attuned to the behavior of your home s water drainage system you may not notice this occurrence. This can be frustrating and also creates a dangerous situation on porch steps during freez.