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Did you know there are ‘oversized’ gutters available to the homeowner? What exactly are they, who needs them and why? Do you live in a location that experiences a lot of rain? These are all great questions to ask when you are considering installing gutters.
The standard size for residential seamless gutters depends largely on the region of the country along with the size and style of your home. Many homeowners are upgrading to 6″, 7″, or even 8″ gutters. Though a 6″ gutter is only an inch bigger than a 5″, it does handle 40% more water. The oversized downspout installed with these gutters can also handle more debris passing through them. We have been seeing the trend of larger gutters becoming more sought after here for several years. When we decided to add a third crew in 2011, we added a second 6″ machine because we simply could not keep up with the demand for 6″ gutters.
There are many factors that determine if you need larger gutters. The most basic information is the size of your roof. Obviously, a larger roof would benefit from larger gutters. If you want to measure the square footage of your roof to determine the best size gutters you can take a few simple measurements. If you follow this link it will teach you how to determine your roof volume.
Although the size of your roof is important, you should also consider the pitch of your roof. A steeper pitch will make water run down faster and require a larger gutter. Metal roofs also shed water at much faster rates than asphalt roofs, therefore, we always recommend larger gutters to handle the faster runoff of the water.
Many of today’s newer homes have more complex rooflines. We come across roofs with a lot of valleys and areas where large amounts of water collect, causing a flood of water to shed all at once. These areas often have just enough space for a small gutter and would benefit from a larger gutter.
The style of gutter can also determine the size. If you are considering Half Round Gutters we always recommend a 6″ gutter or larger. Half Round gutters are shallower than K-Style gutters and the 5″ half-round gutters tend to overflow quite often.
Other times when we recommend a larger gutter:
If you have a large volume of rainwater overflowing your gutters, connect with us and explain the situation. There are many times where the problem is not connected to the size of the gutter. The performance of the gutter system may be stopped by clogs, poor pitch, or other material problems. Call the Brothers that just do Gutters and we can help resolve the question – Is bigger better for me?