Have you ever wondered why homes don’t have massive gutters jutting out nine or ten inches from the eaves? The reason is simple: they are unnecessary in our Kentucky climate. The largest residential gutters are six inches across the open top. Most gutters are five inches. Anything bigger (or smaller) is unhelpful and unattractive. 

Why Five?

Gutters for most Kentucky homes can be five inches wide at their top openings. They are adequate to drain typical rainfall off roofs of standard square footage. We might all need bigger gutters to handle far heavier downpours if Kentucky was suddenly transported to the tropics.

Kentucky gets around four feet of precipitation a year (recorded by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA). For most Kentucky homes, five-inch gutters can easily handle the runoff of even our wildest weather. 

Why Six?

Why would a Kentucky home need to increase its gutter width by a full 20 percent to six inches across? For three reasons:

  1. You own a home surrounded by a significant number of overhanging trees, all adding to the water already falling on your roof.
  2. Your home has significantly larger expanses of roof than average.
  3. Local weather conditions tend toward more rain, or steadier showers, than typical.

A six-inch seamless gutter can handle nearly 50 percent more water than a five-inch gutter. It makes a dramatic statement attached to the eaves of your home. A six-inch gutter needs a larger downspout, too.

You and your roofer should work closely together to determine your home’s needs; too large a gutter can detract from your home’s beauty. 

Risks

Though too-large gutters can undoubtedly rob your Kentucky home of curb appeal, can too-small gutters carry risks? You bet!

If you have a complex roof design, or a roof in which one roof empties rain onto a lower roof, you may need larger seamless gutters. A standard five-inch gutter will overflow. Overflowing gutters carry all sorts of risks: 

  • They will ruin your lawn and flower beds.
  • They can cause parts of the yard to wash away.
  • They will damage your home’s foundations.
  • They can cause damage to the roof.
  • The water will rot fascia trim.
  • Ice dams will form quickly.

Please connect with us today at AIC Roofing & Construction in Central Kentucky. We can answer all your questions and put to rest all your concerns about your home’s gutters, roofs, siding, and more.

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