The Clogged Downspout Elbow Under a Gutter Guard in Canton, OH

A gutter can look perfect from the yard and still not drain. The usual reason is one small part: the elbow where the gutter meets the downspout. It is the narrowest turn in the whole system, and it is hidden. On houses with guards, a clogged elbow is also a common reason an owner decides the guards have failed. Often the guard is not the cause. Here is how to tell.

Why does the elbow clog before anything else?

Water leaves the gutter through an outlet, a hole about the size of a playing card. Right below it the downspout bends back toward the wall through one elbow, then bends again through a second to run down the siding. So debris has to pass a small hole and two tight turns within about a foot. Leaves fold and wedge in the first bend. Seeds and shingle grit settle behind them. Once a plug forms, everything arriving after it stacks on top.

How does an elbow clog under a gutter guard?

There are three ways, and only one of them is about the guard's mesh.

1. The debris was already there. If guards were fitted over gutters that had not been cleaned and flushed, the old material stayed inside. The next rains carried it to the outlet. This is a common story, and it is why the Canton gutter guard installation process starts with an emptied gutter and a flush of every downspout.
2. The guard lets fine material through. Screens and punched covers pass seeds, needles and grit. It builds up slowly over two or three seasons and ends up in the elbow.
3. There is a gap. An open corner, a panel that has lifted or a missing end piece gives leaves a way in. One opening feeds the whole run.

What are the signs from the ground?

• Water spills over the gutter at one spot, usually right above a downspout, while the rest of the run behaves.
• Little or nothing comes out of the bottom of the downspout in a steady rain.
• Water drips from the joint where the elbow meets the outlet.
• In winter, a column of ice forms at the elbow or inside the downspout.
• A stripe of dirt or moss marks the siding behind the downspout.

In Canton the two worst weeks for this are late May, after the maple seeds, and the first hard rain following the November leaf drop.

How can you check without taking the guard off?

Start with your knuckles. Rap on the downspout from the bottom up. An empty pipe rings. A packed one makes a dull thud, and the point where the sound changes is the top of the clog. Then, on a dry day, put a garden hose into the top of the downspout from a ladder, if you can do that safely, or run water onto the roof above the outlet. Watch the bottom. Full flow within a few seconds means the pipe is clear. A trickle, or water backing up out of the top, means it is not.

How is it cleared?

From the bottom first. The lower elbow is usually held by two or three short screws. With it off, most clogs can be reached and pulled out by hand, and a hose from the top pushes out the rest. The upper elbows come apart the same way if they have to. One guard panel over the outlet may need to be lifted to clean the opening itself, and it should go back exactly as it was.

If the downspout runs into a pipe in the ground and the blockage is below grade, that is a different job. Flushing from the top will not move it, and forcing it can make things worse.

Does micro-mesh prevent it?

It removes the supply. Stainless micro-mesh has no opening large enough for a seed or a needle, so what reaches the outlet is water and a little fine silt. Silt does not form a plug in a pipe that is running freely. But that is true only when two other things are done right at the start: the gutter is clean before the mesh goes on, and the corners are closed with fitted miters. A hose test at the end of the job proves it, with water run across the guards and watched at the bottom of each downspout.

What if your guards were put on by someone else?

You can still find out what is going on. If one downspout keeps blocking, look at the gutter above it for an open corner or a lifted panel. If all of them are slow, the gutters were probably dirty when the guards went on, or the guard is a type that passes small debris. Either way, the answer is to open up, clean out and decide whether the guard is worth keeping. The steps on the installation page show what a full job includes, and how guard types compare explains which ones pass what.