If you’ve ever experienced interrupted sleep due to rain gutter noise, then you understand just how distracting it can be. Trying to get some sleep or crack on with your work with the annoying background noise of water dripping can be near impossible. Thankfully, at Authentic Restoration, we have several tricks that you can apply to quieten your downspouts successfully.
What causes downspouts to drip?
Dripping occurs mostly in newly-installed gutter and downspout systems, especially during their first rainy season.
A slight clog in the gutter can cause rainwater to back up and slowly flow into the downspout, causing water to drip from it. When this rainwater slowly travels down the metal downpipe instead of free-falling to the ground, it collides with the edge of the downspout and produces loud dripping noises.
Rectangular downspouts and bottom-curved downspouts are more susceptible to this issue.
How to fix rain gutter noise
Our Roofers frequently get calls about noisy downspouts, mainly on newly-installed gutters and downspouts. Thankfully, there are several straightforward ways to fix it. You can opt for any of the following solutions.
Insulate your downspout:
One of the best ways to dampen rainwater sounds is to prevent surface vibrations. When you wrap foam insulators or apply spray foam around your downspout pipe, you significantly reduce the noise of rainwater hitting the bottom of your downspout.
Reposition your downspout:
The most straightforward fix for noisy downspouts is to adjust the downspout angle and reposition it.
Use a spacer or a longer clip to reposition the downspout’s bottom away from the house. This way, the water will no longer fall directly to the bottom of the elbow, but will quietly hit the side and trickle-down.
Swap the metal elbow for vinyl or plastic:
Remove the metal elbow where the runoff water empties and replace it with a vinyl or plastic piece. Vinyl and plastic do a better job of muffling sounds than metal.
When runoff water hits the elbow of the downspout, you’ll hear a faint murmur instead of an echoing metallic clang.
Absorb runoff water:
Noisy downspouts are a result of rainwater water directly hitting the elbow.
One of the best tricks to quieting this noise down is to attach an absorbent material at the bottom of the downspout to absorb the rainwater water as it trickles down. Scrubber sponges, foam, artificial turf, or a section of shingle inserted into the opening will do the trick.
Using downspout chains or rope:
Nylon rope or chains work to move the excess rainwater down the inside length of the downspout.
When you attach a nylon rope or chain to the top opening of the downspout and run it to the bottom opening, water trickles down smoothly and quietly, reducing any unwanted noise.
We hope this information has helped you to reduce your rain gutter noise. Once you’ve silenced your downspouts, you may also want to find the best gutter covers that protect your roof.
Leave it To the Experts
Authentic Restoration is a professional and reliable roofing contractor that can help you to get the best roofing solutions to include gutter noise reduction. We take pride in our highly-skilled roofing technicians who provide the best service and top-quality materials and construction techniques.
Reach out to us to solve your rain gutter issues. Contact Authentic Restoration now at 833-318-7663 for fully-licensed, bonded, and insured roof repair or replacement, siding, gutter installation, and other services.
