Started raining a little after one in the morning and just kept it up most of the rest of the night.
Supposed to be rainy and cool all day today, then clear out tomorrow. Don’t know about tomorrow, but it sure looks like “rainy and cool” is the plan for today.
ETA: Raining again. And since I’ve waited six weeks for it to happen, of course I had to go out in the rain like an idiot to see the new gutter working for myself – like gravity was going to fail just because I built the system of trays and pipes using it.
But sure enough…
Water goes down the gutter and into the downspout there – and dammit! That end cap still leaks, I need to do some research because caulk AND flex-tape have failed me…
…Neatly into the underground pipe…
Then streams tamely into the drainage ditch to go where it will. Be free, little water molecules! Be free! Just stop making a whole bunch of mud in my walking space, okay?
Except for that one leak, the gutter receives the Joel stamp of approval.
The place looks good.
About the downspout… With the water just flowing down the drain spout to the underground outlet at zero pressure, there should be no issues with it leaking. Looking at the amount of stuff you’ve wrapped around the union of the two parts, I’m thinking there’s something living in the pipe causing the water to not flow very well leading to it backing up and leaking. If that’s not the issue then the down spout probably doesn’t go into the outlet pipe far enough. When i did mine a few years ago I made sure the down spout went a good 4 or 5 inches into the pipe I didn’t have to wrap anything and there was no water leaks. Good luck with it.
No, I wasn’t clear. The downspout doesn’t leak at all. But the end cap on the gutter still leaks despite attempts to caulk and wrap it in waterproofing tape. Not really hurting anything, just annoying.
That tape is good stuff, but a complicated joint that may not be the best application for it. I think that more goop applied inside the gutter will be your best shot. But you are probably using latex caulk, and that stuff takes several days after application to become truly cured and waterproof all the way through. So give it a rest until next dry season.
And yes, I know that gravity is a constant, but after I do a gutter job you can be sure that I will be out in the next rainstorm admiring my handiwork. 🙂
Did you use that silver grey gutter caulk or some standard stuff you had laying around? The silver stuff is stickier and stays mildly elastic, sealing the end cap onto the gutter. Any other stuff will not stick as well and shrinks or hardens. I will send you a small tube next care package, May even have a spare end cap laying around too.
Oh, well that makes sense… Good luck and as for me, I got nothing.
Probable causes of end cap leaks:
1) Malformation of the end cap (manufacturing, handling/storage, installation)
2) Malformation of the gutter – end cap mating surface (cutting/installation, installation of downspout).
End caps have a mating flange to match the gutter profile, better end caps have a female flange into which the gutter fits, and there’s a crimping tool to secure the better end caps to the gutter; caulk (or similar sealant) notoriously fails because gutters have a lot of UV (and atmospheric ozone) exposure, the better end caps allow for placement of the sealant inside the female flange where it’s protected.
Then, of course, there are copper gutters on which the joints are soldered. Never seen one of those leak – ever – when properly done (also saw one set of oversize gutters and downspouts made from 316 stainless where all joints were TIG welded by someone who was an artist, on a house owned by a guy whose company built custom stainless steel restaurant kitchens. No idea how much, but I’m sure it was national-debt-level expensive.