How Wide Should Rain Gutters Be

Aluminum is the most popular material for rain gutters whether seamed or seamless.

How wide should rain gutters be. Here are 3 benefits of large rain gutters. A k style gutter in the same inch width can handle twice as much water as a half round gutter. They come in 5 inch to 6 inch widths. The standard is about inch per 10 feet.

Better protection from water damage. Gutters should slope an inch or two for every 40 feet. Gutters can range anywhere from 4 inches to 8 inches wide but 5 and 6 inch gutters are the most common. 5 inch 5 520 square feet.

Lengths of drip vary but typically it s sold in ten foot lengths 120. That said gutters need to be completely level from front to back or water could spill over either edge. Drip edge varies in dimensions but typically the flange that nails to the roof surface is about 2 5 wide and the vertical edge that directs roof runoff down and away is about 1 5 in depth. Is bigger really always better.

Whether you use 5 or 6 gutters is more a function of how much roof area is feeding into the gutter. Aluminum gutters come in three standard thicknesses. Most times these style gutters are installed with rectangular downspouts. 025 inch 027 inch and 032 inch.

While the thinnest. Increasing the pitch increases a gutter s handling capacity but the gutter may look askew over a long run. Multiply the drainage area by the roof pitch factor and rainfall intensity to find out the adjusted square footage. Then use the chart below to see what size gutter you need.

6 inch 7 960 square feet. I recently finished a home with a large steep roof 2 3rds of which on each side of the house fed into a narrow section between two gable dormers. 5 gutter would have been inadequate during a heavy rain squall. If your home needs to handle intense storms you can either install wider gutters or install more or wider downspouts to drain water away more quickly.

As with gutters a downspout s capacity must match or exceed the expected runoff. If a roof s various drainage areas call for different size gutters go for the biggest one k style. The above recommendations assume that you have properly sized downspouts every 40 feet.