No gutters in Austin homes? (how much, houses, landscaping) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

maincoon · 04-29-2009, 01:14 PM

I just purchased a home and I realize most of the homes I have seen don't have gutters. I am a NY transplant so I am assuming you don't need gutters in this weather. Am I right? Thanks.

austin-steve · 04-29-2009, 01:18 PM

It's smart to install gutters, but most homes don't have them. If you have good slope away from the house and foundation, you might not even need them. But to control where the water flows and gathers around your home and foundation during rain, gutters are very useful along with proper grading and landscaping.

So, when buying, you neither add or subtract actual value for gutters, but it's a plus if they are there and in good working order, provided the drain spouts are properly located.

Steve

Trainwreck20 · 04-29-2009, 01:21 PM

My last house did not have gutters, so I ended up adding them so I could have a flower bed out front. It was actually pretty inexpensive, although that one was also very easy. dont remember exactly how much, but I was below the minimum amount unless I did both front and back (really only need front).

The house I am in now has about 6 feet of gutter around the front door area. With the way our roof is sloped and the way our property is graded, there really is no need for gutters elsewhere.

hoffdano · 04-29-2009, 01:38 PM

Hmmm....I don't know if I'd say "most" homes don't have gutters. Maybe most in certain price ranges?

I think gutters are very useful to manage rainfall off the roof. Some of our rainshowers can be very heavy. And gutters can really help with minimizing rainfall damage around the house.

mimimomx3 · 04-29-2009, 01:38 PM

This is a source of endless bickering between my dh and me. I think they're ugly and he says they're important for the foundation. I've won so far...

Danbo1957 · 04-29-2009, 02:10 PM

We don't have basements in Austin, most all houses are on a reinfored concrete slab. Also, there is a required setback, usually 25 feet or more, as to where a house may be contructed away from the street. So, most all houses have a yard that encircles the house to soak up rain water. Also, historically, Austin houses have had large roof overhangs and/or porches (pre-airconditioning), gutters would have been redundant. And, since Austin is water plenty, we've never needed water catching devices.

CarnivalGal · 04-29-2009, 02:32 PM

I had never heard of or seen a house that didn't have gutters until I moved down here. Even if you have grass all around your house to "soak up rain water," you will still have a lot of water and moisture next to your foundation, which is not good. It's not good for maintaining the intregrity of the foundation or keeping mold at bay. Also, the reason we don't have basements here is because the soil is very clay-like or there is rock near the surface, neither of which allow for absorption of much water - hence the reason we have flash floods all the time here. If our house didn't have gutters, i would have added them as soon as we moved in.

Trainwreck20 · 04-29-2009, 07:32 PM

Look at the house before you decide, I would suggest. Our house mainly sheds water on two sides, both of which have a noticeable grade away from the house, plus the eaves extend pretty far. The front door has a small gutter 'system' around it due to some water that runs off the garage that way, and the back porch sheds water into the back yard, but it lands at the far side of the patio from the house. I have never seen standing water around our house, even after a deluge. Even if it did stand for some period of time, I am not sure what the damage would be to a foundation sitting directly on a sheet of solid rock.

achtungpv · 04-30-2009, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

It was actually pretty inexpensive, although that one was also very easy. dont remember exactly how much, but I was below the minimum amount unless I did both front and back (really only need front).

It can be expensive. I was looking a while back at adding plain seamless gutters to my house but it's a hip roof and I have 5 bay windows (i.e. a lot of corners)...the estimates were all around $15,000. I kept my leaky gutters.

Trainwreck20 · 04-30-2009, 08:07 AM

WOW....my seamless aluminum gutter on a 60' straight run in the front (with spouts at the corners) and about 30 feet in the back (around a porch) ended up costing around $600 or $700, I think. There were some higher bids, but there were for more expensive materials, mainly, or heavier gauge metal. Could have been a little more or less, but was definitely under $1,000 and that was about three years ago, I think.