Gutter Size
 

Hi Folks, did you install 5" or 6" gutters? Why?

Have you noticed overflow in your 5" gutters?

In my opinion, 5 inch gutters are fine. I have them, and there is no overflow, even during heavy rain. 6 inch gutters may be needed if your gutters tend to fill up with leaves or if you have a very steep sloped roof.

What model home do you have? Mine is a Hudson model

Courtyard villa. The builder installed the gutters as new construction.

Never noticed overflow with 5". The correct number of downspouts is also key...

We went with 6 inch per suggestion of Stipes Gutters. Cost wasn't much more than 5 inch. There are some you tube videos you can watch to see the difference.

5" or 6" gutters
 

If you have smaller roof square footage, 5" might be ok. Stipes told us that with 6" gutters, fewer downspouts were required. We have a total of 4 - they come down on each corner of the sides of the house, rather than the front or back. You'll need to plan on how the water is moved away from the house under each downspout, otherwise, the flow might be staining the concrete or washing away your landscaping.

Personally, I am considering the removal of the gutters we installed due to the additional maintenance issues, I have come to realize these are typically NOT necessary, as the houses are on slabs and correctly graded so water runs away from the house.

Agreed. A lot of times they aren't even needed. We put them at the back of our house though because the water coming off the roof was wearing out a section of the concrete patio (in the corner where the roof of the house and lanai meet).

Put in new 6 inch gutters to replace 5 inch we had. Gutters in back would overflow with heavy rains. We have a designer home with a steep hip roof. Never a problem in the front of the house though. Builder put in 5 inch when home was built. We weren't given an option. I would go with 6 inch for sure if you have a steep hip roof.

Use a quality, qualified installer and you won't have to ask a public board and get responses from strangers sitting in their recliner.

:ho:

Just replaced our 5” with 6” due to that situation- call Cody Carpenter of South Lake Seamless Gutters (407-770-4617) - did a great job at a great price - we went from white to black and looks great - tell him MIKE referred you!

Ohiobuckeye
 

Like a lot of houses my Lilac didn’t have spouting!

We went with 6" because we limited the number of downspouts and had longer spans. Also used Stipes and had a good experience there.

They tell you differently some say 5 some say 6

Most houses in The Villages do not have a steep roof or issues with debris filling up the gutters. I don't see a problem with adding a few downpouts to a 5 inch gutter system. One thing to consider is the overall appearance of the house if you use a larger gutter.

Agree with this. I limited the number of downspouts to keep downspouts from draining onto our expensive driveway. Fewer downspouts means 6 inch is a better choice. Used stripes. Did great job

We are in the process of buying a resale home with no gutters. With heavy rains I am concerned about all that water dropping close to the foundation. The eve overhand it not very much so the water lands close to the footings.

We bought Jan 2021 and moved full time in Oct 2021. We had Hill's Seamless
Gutters install 6" gutters around our Iris model because it seemed like the
right thing to do. By the way, I'd recommend Hill's if you choose to go
ahead. However, I currently have some regrets. The houses in my
neighborhood are pretty close together and both our neighbors (left and
right) have downspouts that drain in the same general area as mine. During
heavy rain, we get a lot of water accumulating in those areas and I'm not
sure it's a good thing. I'm tempted to remove the long runs of gutters on
the sides of the house so that the water distributes more evenly over the
length of the roof instead of being focused into two downspouts. If I were
you, I wouldn’t rush into anything. Watch what happens on your lot when you get heavy rains and see if there is enough pitch in your lot to make water quickly drain away from where your downspouts would be.

Somehow, I can't wrap my head around the concept of 6-inch gutters being less fashionable and aesthetic than 5 inch. I can't picture people riding by in their golf carts and shaking their heads and saying, "Tsk. tsk look at that 6-inch gutter setup - the neighborhood is going to pot".

Considering Florida's sandy soil, I don't think that the water will stay there long enough to damage the foundation. But, that is just an opinion because I am NOT a hydraulic engineer.

LOL. I can't wrap my head around a lot of things that some people consider fashionable. Why is it considered better to have fewer downspouts with 6-inch gutters? I would rather have more downspouts to distribute the water. Are downspouts unfashionable? All of the houses in my neighborhood have 5-inch gutters, and I have never seen one overflow.

We didn’t install gutters for 9 years. Then we had some water seepage in our garage. Got that attended to.

Put in 6” gutters with Stipes and so glad we did.

With the rainstorms we get in Florida gutters make a lot of sense.

Agree, we only have them in locations to keep water off concrete areas or splashing into the lanai.

Our 5", installed by A-Action, have ever overflowed. The key is downspouts, and, the proper size opening to the downspouts. The hole has to match the size of the downspout.

I'll have to agree. We put 5" gutters on house and wondering WHY did I do that. Not really sure what problem I solved or if I was only doing it for ???
Maintenance .. NONE BUT we have no leaf trees by our house.
Oh well I'm leaving then on since it would only cause me $s to take them off, but my advice is " Why are your doing it" before you do it.

Gutters
 

6" it can rain really hard at times and they actually look much better on the house. Cost difference was minimal.

Rain accumulation
 

Gutters or not water between houses is a common thing. Not enough pitch from front to back of lots to take the water to the street. A French drain would solve the problem but most houses have utilities on property lines between houses. If you look at the new construction areas along Marsh Bend headed south you will see that what was once pasture and wetlands are being raised 4 to 5 feet to get above water line then houses will be built. Dig down a foot in the summer to plant a bush and you will hit water. That's just the way it is.