A good gutter system is necessary for protecting your home from water damage and its side effects. Primarily designed to catch rainwater from your roof and direct it away from your home, gutters prevent water from overflowing and seeping into your walls, ceilings, and foundation. Choosing a rain gutter system for your home can be confusing, though. Gutters come in numerous styles, sizes, and materials, making it difficult for homeowners to pick the right option. In this post, we lay out the qualities good gutters have so you know what to look for.
Good Gutters Effectively Direct Water Away
Installing quality gutters is the best way to protect your home against the devastating effects of water damage. A gutter system that can no longer channel water flow away from your home properly may leave it susceptible to a whole slew of problems that are both expensive and unpleasant. Mold formation, basement flooding, landscape erosion, and rotting siding are just some of the issues you may be forced to deal with if you don’t have fully functioning gutters.
Fortunately, with the help of the right contractor, you can choose and install a gutter system that can keep your home safe from such damage. Size is one of the most important factors to consider when installing new gutters, as the amount of rainwater to be managed should fit your system. Five-inch K-style and 6-inch Half-round gutters are two of the most common sizes for residential gutters. For steeper roofs and for areas that experience severe weather year round, it would be wise to install gutters with wider troughs.
Good Gutters are Durable
Given their task at hand, gutter systems need to provide lasting performance. This is where gutter materials come in. Reliable gutters are made from advanced materials that can keep them safe from extensive damage caused by wind, rain, and heat. Today, the most popular gutter materials are copper, aluminum, and galvanized steel. These three are not just excellent at performing under any weather condition, but they are also capable of standing up to different elements throughout the year.
Good Gutters are Beautiful
Gutters may be essential in keeping your interior safe from moisture, but more than that, they are also valuable components that can add to the beauty of your exterior. Thanks to modern technology, you can purchase custom-fit gutters specifically designed to match your roofline and complement the design of your home’s architecture.
For gutter styles, you can choose between the basic K-style and half-round. K-style gutters, also known as Ogee gutters, are popular for their decorative crown molding appearance. They are called K-style not because they are shaped like the letter K, but because this style is number 11 in the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA)’s alphabetical listing of the 12 most common gutter types, and the letter K is 11th in the alphabet. Half-round gutters, on the other hand, are just as the name implies—they’re shaped like a half-circle, with the open half facing the roof.
Furthermore, you can choose between two distinct gutter designs: sectional and seamless. Sectional gutters are what homes traditionally have, available in sections of material joined to each other to form troughs. Seamless gutters, on the other hand, are, as their name implies, seamless, forming a continuous trough with joints only at the corners or where downspouts are located. Seamless gutters have a leg up on their sectional counterparts because they feature fewer places from which leaks can start from, making them easier to maintain. Both designs, however, are available in many colors, allowing you to achieve that visual effect you wish to create on your exterior.
Good Gutters Last
Gutters are exposed to everyday wear and tear, and most of the time, how long they last is dependent on the elements they mostly deal with. However, the material they are made from also says a lot about the service life of gutters. For example, copper gutters tend to be the most long-lasting among options, performing for up to 50 years or more with proper care, while aluminum gutters can last anywhere between 20 and 40 years and galvanized steel offers up to 20 years of service life. Lastly, vinyl gutters, which are some of the more modern gutters available, can last for over 25 years.
Good Gutters are Easy to Maintain
Gutters can be hard to maintain, as leaves, twigs, and other debris can be trapped inside, causing clogs. Fortunately, you can change all that and prevent clogged gutters by pairing your gutter system with innovative protection systems, such as Gutter Helmet® and Helmet Heat®. Together, these systems can allow water to properly flow through your gutters throughout the year, ensuring you’re protected from water moisture damage whatever the season. Gutter Helmet® also keeps debris at bay, making cleaning your gutter system a nearly nonexistent task. Simplified cleanup makes maintaining your gutters a breeze.
Not all gutters are created equal. By knowing the qualities that make a good gutter system, you should be able to zero in on the best gutters for your home. To get you started, just give a trusted gutter company in your area a call today.
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Author Bio:
Shannon Lindquist is Director of Marketing for Asher Lasting Exteriors, a family-owned exterior remodeling business in Eau Claire, WI, which has been providing top-quality products and workmanship to customers in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Mondovi, Bloomer, Menomonie, Black River Falls, and surrounding areas in Wisconsin since 1974. Shannon has over 22 year’s of experience…with 13 years of those years helping to grow the Asher Lasting Exteriors business. As specialists in the exterior construction industry, Asher has completed thousands of projects over the past 43 years and are experts in the installation and servicing of siding, windows, doors, gutters, gutter protection, retractable awnings and other exterior-related products.
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