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I am about to replace my gutters, one guide I have read say the gutter should never be more then 30mm below the bottom of the roof tiles, another says 50mm.

What is the reason for this?

What is a safe distance?

(I want to get a good fall on the gutters and I expect that the bottom of my tiles are not level… I am planning to fit felt support tray at a later date)

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How far below the drip edge is the current gutter? Why can't you install the new gutter in the same place as the old one? – Tester101♦ Jul 11 '12 at 15:06
@Tester101, the current gutter does not slope towards the outlets, so it overflows etc. – Walker Jul 11 '12 at 15:53

1 Answer

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3-5 centimeters is in the 2-3 inch range.

Any more and you run the risk of water running off the tile and overshooting the gutter.

The gap can vary some because the gutters must slope towards the downspout.

Edit post comments: When you install your new gutters, put the point furthest from the downspout at the highest possible point against the bottom of the roof, and then slope gradually down to your downspout. You're never going to hit the "maximum" that way.

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Thanks so the key is the distance between the front of my tiles and the far side of my gutter - easy to fix as I can push tiles back a bit if they overhead too match. – Walker Jul 11 '12 at 13:14
You should not push the tiles back beyond manufacturer recommendations because you need to make sure you have a proper drip edge. If you don't have that, water will collect at the end of the tile, wrap around and soak into the underlying surfaces that aren't supposed to get wet. – The Evil Greebo Jul 11 '12 at 13:27
3" seems like a lot. If you start at 3", you'll be at 3 3/4" at the end of a 30' run. Depending on the slope of the roof, the water might cascade right over the gutter (but I'm no physics major, so I'm not sure how to calculate the path of falling water). – Tester101♦ Jul 11 '12 at 15:04
@Tester101, You got it the wrong way round, 3" is the point away from the outlet, so it gets less closer to the outlet. – Walker Jul 11 '12 at 15:55
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@Walker Huh? your gutters slope up towards the downspout, not down? You must have some odd water where you are, if it flows up hill. The 3" would be the distance measured from the drip edge (the point at which the water falls from the roof), to the top of the gutter. Since the gutters have to slope down towards the downspout, this distance will increase as you get closer to the downspout. – Tester101♦ Jul 11 '12 at 16:01
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