How To Slope Rain Gutters

Put a temporary screw at the back to adjust the pitch.

How to slope rain gutters.

How to check a gutter s slope. To check the slope of your gutters you ll need a ladder tall enough to safely get to your gutter and a one gallon bucket of water. If there s standing water it s not pitched properly. To calculate gutter slope attach one end of a long piece of string to the highest point of your gutter and the other end at the location of your downspout.

To ensure that gutters drain properly make certain they slope inch for every 10 feet toward a downspout. To correct this yourself you ll need to measure from the peak to the downspout. Go to the side of the gutter farthest from the downspout and pour the water in. A line spirit level is a very small level that attaches to string.

Rain gutters have to slope down to the downspout for proper drainage. Once the gutter is properly pitched re install the gutter brackets. You want at least a quarter inch of slope for every 10 feet. Pull the line tight to the other side of where the gutters will be installed.

Place the line spirit level on the string. Pull the gutter down about 3 quarters of an inch lower than it originally was. For gutter runs longer than 40 feet it s best to pitch the gutter down from the middle to a downspout at each end. Measure the length of the string to determine the distance between the two points.

This means that your gutter should be a half inch lower in height at every 10 foot mark until you reach the downspout. Get on a ladder after a rainstorm and look in the gutter. In the picture you can see an example of what happens when the installer gets a little crazy with the slope of the gutters. This gutter looks to be over 1 inch per 10 feet.

Gutters need to be pitched toward the downspouts for the water to flow properly. Use a string level to ensure the string is completely parallel to the ground. Gutter sloping only needs to be 1 4 inch per 10 feet. The standard slope for rain gutters is half of an inch for every 10 feet.

It s sloped so much the flashing or drip edge is no longer covering the back of the gutter. It should run at a consistent speed down the gutter to the downspout.