Philidelphia Gutters

I had a realtor make comments about the Philidelphia Gutters that were on a house I was inspecting on Friday. I am not sure what they are. I thought Philadelphia gutters were built in gutters in the eaves made out of wood. Can someone help me and explain what Philidelphia gutters are??

Dan Osborn
Upstate Home Inspection
Albany, NY

Hi Dan,

I somewhat agree with your understanding of the term, the point is that they are realy a part of the roof rather than a plant-on to the fascia, usually they are a gully in the roof deck feeding water to down-spouts hidden in columns or some other vertical detail.

Regards

Gerry

Thanks Gerry, my problem is I had no downspouts, but they could have been internal behind the wall… It was a 2 family stick built house 100 years old…

Dan, was it a Mansard roof design by any chance as I have seen several of those with Phiidelphia gutters and internal downspout systems.

They are always problematical, both in terms of the roof coverings and also the downspouts are usually shot.

Regards

Gerry

Gable roof, 2 story home with a full stone basement.

Dan

Interesting one Dan, never seen it done on a gable, only on mansards and one Dutch hip, got any pictures?

Regards

Gerry

Yea, I will post a picture as soon as I can figure out how to do it, but it is a slate roof, with Vinyl siding and aluminum soffet and fascia, if it wasnt for my realtor (who lives in same style house 3 doors down) I wouldnt have given philidelphia gutters a second thought. I just figured they were under the aluminum soffet and fascia. Now Im not so sure…

Dan

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Nice home Dan, I miss doing the old stuff, the downspouts at the front (off the shed porch roof) look to be internal within the Deck supports, I’d love to see some roof shots of the Gable edges to figure out what they did there.

BTW here’s a quick CAD of the typical Philly set up

Regards

Gerry

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Roof shots of the gable edges… Gerry, that’s not happening, if I can’t inspect it from the ground it isnt getting inspected…

Thanks for your input Gerry…

Dan

Dan, it sounds like you need the ArialPhotoStik !! This amazing device can take a picture 25 feet above the ground. Detailed plans are available from me, $9.99. A couple of sample shots below.

John Kogel
www.allsafehome.ca

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Hi John,

Cool looking tool.

Also, when I opened your website my McAfee cleaned this that came from your site: http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=141062

Thank you Larry, and the person who sent me an E-mail alert. I will get on that ASAP.
Update: I’ve reloaded a clean website, thanks for the feedback.