Wood Behind Gutters

The problem is not the gutters but the lack of gutter apron flashing to protect the wood from getting wet in the first place.

Wood behind gutters.

If the fascia board has had water leaking over it or behind it over a long period of time it will certainly rot out. If water is dripping behind your gutter it s probably because it was installed without any flashing over the back of the gutter. Why rotted fascia is a problem in gutter installation. Have rain water dripping out from between your facia and gutters.

This may be standard solid wood lumber usually a softwood like pine or perhaps cedar or redwood to match the same type of house siding or it may be any type of engineered wood or manmade material such as masonite fiber cement pvc vinyl or wood composite. Box gutters are actually built off of the rafters of the building they are not hung from the building as metal gutters are. This happens due to excessive moisture exposure from rain snow and ice dams that accumulate in the gutters as well as roof leaks. A gutter apron is a bent piece of flashing that tucks up under the shingles and over the gutter.

The wood behind the gutter is called the fascia board. Home centers sell a gutter apron in 10 ft. The missing link between built in gutters and applied metal gutters was the wood gutter which flourished for a few brief decades in the early 1900s. A percentage of water coming off the roof is running behind the gutters.

This can be frustrating and also creates a dangerous situation on porch steps during freez. Here the board is usually made of wood and it tends to rot. These wood gutters must be lined with metal. Wood box gutters were the premiere gutter design for the drainage of rain water from roofs in the united states from 1890 to 1925 and can still be found on houses today.

Fascia related problems with gutters usually happen on older homes. To fix this means removing the gutter and cutting out the rotted section of fascia. As the virgin forests of the northwest were being gobbled up it was discovered that clear fir gutters could actually outlive galvanized gutters at a lower cost. Many people cover the fascia with metal or at least paint it regularly to protect it.