Rain gutters on houses not mandatory? (San Diego, Bakersfield: condo, tile, earthquake)

[earlyretirement]

I just had a quick question from some of you local experts. I noticed on one of the houses I toured yesterday that there were no rain gutters on the property. That's the first time I've ever seen that and was surprised. In fact, I saw a bit of humidity damage in front of the house because run off water was falling directly on the house front vs. going down a rain gutter.

When I asked my realtor about it, she said that it's rare but some owners since there isn't much rain in San Diego they don't bother putting on rain gutters. This seemed strange to me on a $1 million + home.

So my question is...how common is it? And really they aren't in the code to have rain gutters on your home?

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Good question. I have seen many newer homes without them. Might want to try the websites for SD County or whatever City the house is in that you are looking at. There may have been a code enforcement at one point in time and then changed.
The argument that its rare to find gutters and that it almost never rains here is a pretty weak reason and sounds like a little BS IMHO. The REALTOR or agent really shouldnt have said that if they didnt know the answer.

[tstieber]

That realtor must be pretty misinformed. I don't know if rain gutters are "mandatory" in any jurisdiction really, but it's plain moronic not to install them. As you said, there was mold and water damage, which is evidence of the fact that they should have had them. Just because it doesn't rain "that much" in San Diego, it still rains (10 to 15 inches a year depending on your area, and this year, we had above average rainfall with major 100-year-flooding in Mission Valley back in December). What difference does it make if the summers are dry and it only rains during the rainy season? That's still water all over your house at some point. Bakersfield gets half the rain that SD does; do homes there not have rain gutters either? I doubt it.

[oddstray]

Not having rain gutters isn't going to affect your safety, so I doubt there's any mandatory requirement. It's not like building to earthquake safety standards, where that could be a danger.

But it's pretty stupid not to have rain gutters.

[earlyretirement]

Yeah, I agree it's idiotic not to have installed rain gutters. Oh yeah, I assume the builder was just trying to save some money but it makes me wonder where else they tried to cut corners. But to make it clear, the realtor didn't say it was normal. She said it was VERY rare...but that she has seen it before with others and their excuse was always, "it doesn't rain much in San Diego".

Thanks guys.

[Oerdin]

There is no requirement for houses to have rain gutters though about half of the owners do put rain gutters up.

[Anak]

It's nice that there are at least some things where a homeowner has the freedom to decide for themselves.

[djxpress]

my ghetto condo complex doesn't have rain gutters on our 4 plexes.

[tickyul]

In my opinion you need either a good drain tile system or rain gutters......both is preferable.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Oerdin

There is no requirement for houses to have rain gutters though about half of the owners do put rain gutters up.

Wow...up to half of homes don't bother putting them in? Is it that high? Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what the cost is to put in rain gutters on a 4,700 sq. foot house? Just ballpark estimate...