“Does my house need gutters?” I hear this question all the time. Or, I am asked to “only quote the parts of the house that need gutters.” That’s like asking if your fireplace needs a chimney. I mean, I guess you could have one without the other... but it’s probably not the best idea!
Gutters aren’t just there to keep you from walking through a sheet of water on your way in and out of the house. Gutters are on virtually every house in the United States outside of Texas and the Great Plains. You know, where it actually rains regularly.
In Central Texas, builders get away with making gutters an “option” because people forget it will rain again one day. And when it rains, boy does it rain a lot! It’s all or nothing around these parts! Did you know Austin, Texas actually gets more rainfall annually than London+, England? Go ahead...look it up!
So why do houses need gutters anyway? When installed properly, gutters protect both your home and your yard. They protect the facia, trim, stucco, siding, stone, and even your foundation. They also prevent soil erosion.
By design, a gutter’s most important function is to channel the water from your roof away from your foundation. For those who think a foundation is this rock solid, super thick, strong block of concrete under your most valuable asset... think again! Your foundation is a shell of concrete around sand. You’d like to believe it is a jawbreaker, when in reality it is more like a Tootsie Pop.
So how do we protect our vulnerable foundations and subsequently avoid tens of thousands of dollars in damages? First and foremost, we have to move the water that cascades off our roof at least six feet away from the foundation. Both gutters and proper grading enable us to achieve this. We need gutters to collect the water and properly placed downspouts to drain it away from the house, ideally downhill and away from the home.
Gutters also protect the home itself from water damage. Direct rain will do what it does, but sheets of concentrated water streaming off the roof in a specific area can literally create the Grand Canyon.
