New homes without gutters
 

While it’s true I’m from up north, I have never been in a home without gutters. Here in The Villages you purchase a expensive new home and no gutters. The builder tells me that it would cost them too much money. That I can find it cheaper after market. Give me a break. They are building thousand of homes yet little o me can find it cheaper. Then I hear from some Villagers that it’s not necessary. Over the last several days the rain came down like a monsoon and the roof looked like a waterfall. Does anyone else find it strange houses built without gutters?

No gutters even on the front of your home??

That seems strange to me. All the homes where we live have gutters, but we live north of 466. Perhaps there is a new storm water management system used with new construction? At least you don’t have to worry about having your basement flood.

I'm sure you have gutters over your front door. At least that's something. Was it an option? I live in the northern part and I would say maybe 80% have gutters around the whole house. Over time the water splatting on the ground will kick up dirt and sand onto the lower outside walls. Power washing that area every couple of years will help you out.

Here in the lower 44 I've noticed that gutters aren't on most homes, but there are gutters at the front door of the house. We had them put on by a gutter company.

This was the case with houses being built north of 44 also. They only supply gutters to the front of the home. There are a couple of good company’s that install them. We have a Gardenia and I believe the cost 3 yrs ago was around $300.

Moved here 2009 new home only gutters by the front door. Called Hills they did a GREAT Job haven't had any problems or leaks.

I, too, am from the north (Indiana) and if there are no gutters, I would find that not only very strange but an incomplete build. While things in Florida are different, I would think with all the rain, gutters would be a standard practice, necessary to direct the water away from the house, regardless whether it had a basement or not.

What’s up with that?

Just my humble opinion but I would say if it's not an issue for the folks whose houses have not had gutters for many years then most likely it's not going to be an issue for you either.

Our new home (built Dec-Jan 2019) had gutters over the front entry only. We added them to the rear and the rest of the front, decided against putting them on the sides, we had Brian Terry vinyl do ours, would certainly hire them again.

Yes the very front of the house by the front door has a 4 foot section of gutters

Not unusual. Our home in Georgia had no gutters. Our first home in TV had them because the previous owner added them. Maybe a southern thing not to have them? I am from the midwest, and it was new to me also. But, it is not to be worried about.

In general you do not need gutters (yes I am from PA and we had gutters) just let the rain go into the lawn on landscape. You may actually create a problem with the addition of the gutters. We had some installed due to staining on the drive way, ended up with a pop-up and underground piping to get past the landscaping, the pop-up became overgrown with grass. It took me 2 hours to find it and clean it out. If you go the gutter route, make sure the drains are properly installed and that they drian to a good location so the ware runs away from the house. We have been here 7 years, and only have gutters at the front of the house, and where the birdcage was installed. IMHO, live with the existing design for a while, then if necessary add the minimum amount of gutters.
We used Hills and were very pleased.

The reason gutters are not as important in the South is that most houses are built with a few feet of roof overhang at the exterior walls. But, in the North, most houses have little or no overhang where the roof connects to the exterior wall. Also, there are more 2 or 3 story houses in the North, which makes gutters a necessary feature.

Also thought minimizing gutters was a strange place to reduce cost.

But now agree with others gutters are only needed where water off the roof hits pavement. The turf here tollerates the heavy runoff well.

Just one less thing to maintain or blow off in high winds.