Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches?

   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #1  

weedsportpete

Silver Member
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
182
Location
Weedsport, NY
Tractor
BX2200
After another wonderful deluge of rain I find myself wanting to take action against this water problem now, instead of waiting until the spring.

We put up a 60 x 160 pole barn and soon discovered that its a magnet for water. It is cut partially into a hill (along a 160' side). We did cut back the hill so there is about 12 feet between the side of the building and the hill, and that area is sloped away from the building. But because of the weather we were not able to finish getting a ditch & tile dug at the bottom of the slope.

Not only is there water coming off the roof, but there is rain water flowing over & down the hill, plus there is underground water - there is hard clay a few feet underground which channels water, plus there may be a spring..

So I know I need a ditch there.

But what about the opposite side? On that 160' side there is about 12 feet of space sloping away, and then it slopes sharply away down a small hill. So the only water problem there is just what comes off the roof.

We were thinking of putting in tile there also, under the eaves, to collect the rain water and channel it away. But wouldn't it be cheaper to put up gutters on that side? Instead of paying someone to dig the trench, buy supplies and put gravel/stone down on top..

Also, looking at the water, maybe I should put gutters on the other side (the hill side) to 1) get rid of the water right now, and 2) reduce the load on the ditch when we do get the ditch.

I'm thinking that with a pole barn, there should not be so much of a problem with ice dams.. so the gutters should be doing the job.

The pole barn is attached, end to end, to the old cow barn (40 x 70). I need to put gutters on there also. Any thoughts on tying the gutters together ? and running the water all to one spot?
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #2  
I would put a rain gutter on the up hill side and run it into a pipe that takes it all the way down past the down hill side. This will lessen the amount of water your up-hill side ditch and tile will need to handle.

If you have a good overhang with the eave on the down hill side and the slope is definitely away, I would say just leave it with no rain gutter. Perhaps put some gravel down under the eave where the runoff from the roof splashes to control erosion but basically let it go. My thought is that if you gutter it somewhere, you need to deal with a whole bunch of water all at once whereas if it just runs off the whole length of the roof it's more manageable by natural means.
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #3  
I've been faced with this many times. Without fail the best solutions have always been to spend the money for the gutters and then run the black tile with holes in it away from the building attached to the downspouts.
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #4  
French drain on the up hill side. With Geo textile it is simple and will be the end of the problem. bcs
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #5  
No question gutters will catch water when they are not ice bound themselves. I would think the uphill drain is going to be needed whether you install gutters or not so put in the drain and re-evaluate the situation after going through seasons. Putting stone under soffit to prevent erosion if you do not put up gutters.

That's a large barn, must have a horse or two around?
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #6  
I'm with Cowboy Doc - spend the money on the gutters. You'll also get the benefit of having more control over where the water gets directed - and the reduced "splash" will keep your barn in better shape.

Bill
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I'll put the gutters up. I don't have to wait for anyone to do that. I will get the french drain in on the uphill side, but that will have to wait until the excavator can get in w/o getting stuck.
Thanks for advice/info.
I'm looking at gutters online and I'm wondering if its cheaper to have it shipped than to buy it locally. For instance, there is www.gutterguards.com . Is $300 for 118 feet (complete setup) a good price? Is vinyl common? I've got two straight runs of 70 feet and two straight runs of 160 feet.. does the long distance mean I should have heavy duty gutters? When I join the 70' run to the 160' run, it will have to go around a corner.. do I need bigger diameter gutters at that point?

Yes we have two horses and and just started boarding another.. hope to have more. We built the arena in August, but because of the rain, haven't been able to clear the water and drain the area. Finally got the arena base put in and now we are waiting on footing.. I expected all this to be done about four months ago..
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #8  
Pete,

I'd get the industrial gutters. With that size of barn you will need them. I'm not sure what the prices are there but here you can have the industrial continuous gutters put up for $6/foot. They sure are nice. It's about 40% more than what you were quoted on the 300 feet sections but the best part is you don't have to put them up and they are continous so there are no linkages to leak. If you run the industrial gutters you won't need any bigger of a corner. Your best bet would probably be to run the 70 foot length and put a downspout and then the 160' runs and put a downspout. When I had them do my last house this is what they did and it worked very well.
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #9  
I don't believe I've ever seen PVC gutters in use. I've lived in Washington State, Southern California, Virginia and West Virginia and all I've ever seen has been aluminum gutters.

In your case, with such a large roof area (long runs), I would use the larger gutter throughout.

Also, you'll probably want to use multiple down spouts since the runs are so long. I don't think you will be able to maintain the slope the gutter needs for the water to drain if you try to have just one (or even two) downspouts.
 
   / Pole Barn - Gutters or ditches? #10  
<font color="blue">Is vinyl common?</font>

When we built my brother's house, we put up the vinyl gutters that he bought at Lowe's. Never had any problem with them. I had the continuous aluminum ones installed on my house. So I really don't know whether one is actually any better than the other. If I were doing it myself, I'd a lot rather work with the vinyl.
 
 
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