Gutters
 

I'm a newbie first poster, but a regular reader of TOTV beginning several months before moving here from Colorado in December.

I've noticed something about the gutters on my house that I've never seen before in other parts of the country I have lived in. In several locations the gutters empty straight into the ground rather than carrying water several feet away so as to avoid possible penetration into the homes.

Maybe one reason for this is because most homes here are built on a slab and have no basement, but wouldn't it still be a best practice to have the gutters discharge water towards the swells that are between the homes?

I was hoping those of you who are more familiar with construction practices here could tell me the reason gutter discharge is designed this way here.

The water is most likely going into another pipe underground and then out away from the house. Ours go under our landscape and then out into the lawn area.

I would check around your property to see if you have an area drain in your yard. This would be a plastic grate about 12 inches by 12 inches that the gutter downspouts may be connect to. If so, there would be an underground pipe from the area drain to a large drainage basin in the street. It is also possible that the downspouts are connected to a buried french drain where the water will just seep into the ground, but that is less likely. There may also be a pop--up drain near the street. This would be a round plastic plate in your grass, about 6 inches in diameter, with a plastic cover that will pop up when the pipe fills with water.

Gutters here have ARE different than up North. The main issue here is the downpours which happen a lot. So a lot of water comes off the roof and hits a gutter. You don't want it to hit the gutter then bounce back under the shingles or it can loosen them. Our builder, and several others, have told us not to put gutters around the rest of the house. We put some flat stones on the corners where the water comes off the roof, thats it. We have 2 houses now - both rentals, similar design. Both are 5-7 years old. One has gutters all the way around and one does not. Have to say, it does not matter much either way from my observation.... no basement, no problem.

We have a lot of plantings around our house and without the gutters they would be damaged. Gutters are cheap down here and they finish the appearance of the homes.

That is a personal opinion(about the look) and I don't agree. I know people who have had to replace 4-5 of the lower shingles around the corners of the house (inside corners) because rain bounced off the gutter up under the shingles and loosened them over time. And why spend money you don't need to?

Well, is this is a brand new house?

If so, then perhaps the extending sections of the gutters might have been taken.

Either way you can of course go to a big box store to purchase those flat gutter extenders that will only open when it's got water in them. Also most homes here have a slight valley between you and your neighbors and that runoff will just flow out to the street in front then out towards the rear to some catch basin somewhere.

Put a extension on your downspout, and get water away from your house

I believe most rain gutters on houses in The Villages are just there to direct the waterflow from the roof away from just going everywhere. Most houses are built without gutters all the way around the houses, just near entryways. I had gutters installed all around after a couple of years where the water coming off the roof was digging a trench on the side of my house.

We have been here 8 years and never heard of this on either home we had full gutters on or any neighbor who has them. Not saying it isn’t possible, just not a likely scenario. Also, we lived in Iowa most our lives and never had the problem there and they have downpours like you would not believe that go on much longer than they do down here. Maybe it’s particular to a specific style of roof line?

It sounds like the gutters were not sloped properly toward the downspouts and, therefore, they filled up with water. Otherwise, the water would not bounce off of the gutter.