Metal building with no gutters?

[2manyrocks]

Water will splash onto the siding. Debris will cover the gravel over the French drain. Unless the French drain has an outlet and is pitched correctly, the water will concentrate around the building.

The other approach is to capture the water flowing off the roof into a gutter and then send it in a controlled fashion to a drainage area where it isn't expected to be a problem. But you have to keep the gutter and the drain free of debris for it to function properly.

 

[Torvy]

Water will splash onto the siding. Debris will cover the gravel over the French drain. Unless the French drain has an outlet and is pitched correctly, the water will concentrate around the building.

The other approach is to capture the water flowing off the roof into a gutter and then send it in a controlled fashion to a drainage area where it isn't expected to be a problem. But you have to keep the gutter and the drain free of debris for it to function properly.

It seems a lot easier to keep the ground clear than gutters up on the roof. The siding gets wet when it rains, gutters or no. I'm not too worried about the metal siding in my lifetime. As for the French drain, the slope concern is valid, but I have to assume it is done correctly, just like I have to assume the gutters are installed correctly. Personally, I am better equipped to properly fix a French drain than the gutters, but that may be just me.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It's a bad idea to build a building and not have an eave gutter, because an eave gutter is necessary to protect the foundation of the house.

That may be true of old salt box houses with no overhang. The world is full of century old barns with 3' overhangs because nobody was going to climb 30' into the air to clean gutters.

 

[2manyrocks]

It seems a lot easier to keep the ground clear than gutters up on the roof. The siding gets wet when it rains, gutters or no. I'm not too worried about the metal siding in my lifetime. As for the French drain, the slope concern is valid, but I have to assume it is done correctly, just like I have to assume the gutters are installed correctly. Personally, I am better equipped to properly fix a French drain than the gutters, but that may be just me.

I installed gutter guards in 2004 and haven't had any issues with clogging yet.

Larry Caldwell's comment is certainly worth noting. An adequate overhang will do wonders for protecting building sidewalls.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We had 6” gutters installed, and buried the downspouts about 150’ from the barn, into the field. High and dry!

 

[jyoutz]

Don't know if this will help you. I put a metal roof on my house and I do not want gutters. If I had them I would just need to take them off in the winter or the snow would rip them off anyway. Too much of a PITA. I have put a border of stone completely around my house that is wide enough to catch the water coming off the roof. The stone keeps the water coming off the roof from digging a trench. The stone is about 2 feet deep and there is a french drain and the drain runs all of the water away from the house to a location that allows the water to run away from the house.

I have a metal roof with gutters and have had 24” of snow on the roof with no issues. Because the roofer installed snow/ice breaks on n the roof about 2’ above the edge.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I have a metal roof with gutters and have had 24” of snow on the roof with no issues. Because the roofer installed snow/ice breaks on n the roof about 2’ above the edge.

Same. Our barn has snow guards.

 

[skipmarcy]

I've got an attachment for my Husq. hand-held leaf blower that cleans my gutters just fine - cost me $28. I could clean gutters as high up as 12' no problem with this plastic tube assembly. Only drawback is if there's water in the gutters/leaves it will give you a little shower if you don't watch yourself !! Been using it on my metal roofed house for close to 15 years now and it will take anything out of the gutters wet or dry and clean the downspouts too when you stick the end of the tube over the downspout hole in the gutter - and clean the underground plastic 4" drain pipe I have connected to the ones in front of the house as well.

 

[RalphVa]

We are finalizing the details on our shop building. It will be 14' at the shoulder and cleaning gutters as we get older will be difficult to say the least.

I am considering extending the roof a foot or so beyond the walls and using a ground drain to channel the water away from the foundation.

Has anyone done anything like this? Any other recommendations for a decent alternative? Things to consider?

We get about 48 inches of rain a 2 inches of snow a year. Monthly rainfall goes from about 2.5 inches to about 6 inches.

We had no gutters in Baton Rouge area. Foolishly put gutter and downspout on a small extension that we did. Stuff grew up the downspout and plugged it. Probably why almost all houses have no gutters there.