If you are questioning why you even need gutters you have come to the right place. The sole purpose of any gutter system is to take all of the rain that falls on your roof and move it safely away from your home so that you do not have foundation issues or water leaking into your walls and insulation inside your home. When it comes to the type of seamless gutters you want installed on your dwelling there are multiple options available for you to choose from. Let us aid you in the decision make process by recommending what will be the best fit for your application. The standard that is used in the Cape Fear region is a white 5 inch aluminum K style gutter. You'll notice that you have four decisions that must be made when choosing a roof drainage system for your structure. You must choose a color, size, material, and shape.
An aluminum seamless gutter system will deliver the best value and longevity of all the options that are available. You can get aluminum gutters in almost any color your can think of and it is easily shaped into the standard K style shape that you see installed on the majority of homes in the area.
White is by far the most requested color a gutter system but depending on the style of home a tan and even dark bronze are great options to accent your home. We carry samples of all available colors to help your decide.
The most common size and shape that we install is the 5 inch K style. This is what you see pictured above. This style has a flat bottom which makes the attachment of downspouts a faster and efficient process which in the end saves us time and you money. Also for the same size a K style gutter can flow more water than a half-round gutter system. The main reason someone will go with a half-round is for aesthetics as they are typically more expensive as they require special hanging hardware. They can last longer as they typically are made from a thicker material and also due to the smooth contour are not as prone to corrosion that can impact gutters that are not made from aluminum. The half-round is a great shape for someone looking for a different look by using copper gutters. More about our copper gutter offerings can be seen here.
You may be questioning why would you want to go with a 6 inch gutter over the industry standard 5 inch size. The biggest reason is that a 6 inch gutter can move as much as 50% more water when compared to the same shape 5 inch gutter. When we come to your home we can estimate the square footage of your roof and determine the best size gutter based on the average rainfall that we get in Wilmington and surrounding areas. If you've ever been in a storm and see water running over the top of the gutters and you know they are not clogged this is because for the size roof the incorrect size gutter and downspout was used and it cannot handle the amount of rain that is falling. With the hurricane force winds and rain that we can experience in our area you would be surprised how many homes actually need a 6 inch gutter system to ensure that you do not have foundation issues on your property. The shape and pitch of your roof will determine what size gutter you will need. There is a calculation that can be as simple as length and width for a standard roof line but it becomes much more complex when you add in dormers, hip roofs, and intersections. All of these shapes mean that your roof will capture more water and thus need larger gutters to move that water away from your house. To take full advantage of the larger gutter size a bigger 3 inch by 4 inch downspout will need to be used. If not either more downspouts will have to be installed or you will end up with water overrunning the gutter where the downspout intersection is.