5 inch gutters vs. 6 inch gutters archived

Why are they being recommended? 6 inch gutters aren't necessary unless you have a massive roof surface. We have 4 inch half-round gutters with 3 inch downspouts and have never had an issue. IMO the oversized gutters and downspouts are generally not necessary and look silly on most houses.

We got them and I'm very glad we did (With a big shout-out to Scott Richardson at Jersey Glass & Gutters ). Our house is a ranch with a hip roof, which means it has a very large roof area with gutters on all four sides. In the picture below (captured from Google Earth), you can contrast our roof with the Cape Cod next door. Even in the biggest downpour, they never run over. Unless I pointed them out to you, I doubt that you would notice their size difference.

Another big point in their favor is that the downspouts are larger, can carry the water away faster, and are less prone to clogging with leaves, in between gutter cleanings.

The gutters on our former house in West Orange were constantly overflowing during heavy rains, probably because of the way the gutters and leaders were arranged. There was a heavy load coming down from the second floor to the gutters on the ground floor, which would promptly overflow in all directions. When we had a new roof put on two years ago, they put on larger gutters and re-routed some of the flow, which made a world of difference.

I think it depends on your particular roof and arrangement of gutters. For us, it was worth it.

The guy who gave us the estimate recommended 6 inch because it had to do with the pitch of our roof. We've never had issues with overflow. We HAVE had issues with improperly attached gutters, and leaks rotting out the fascia boards, which are also going to need to be replaced. We currently have three-inch downspouts. They dropped off samples of the gutters, aluminum and they just look...flimsy. Maybe because I've never examined them up close. Here is a picture of our roof—it's the house on the far right. We have a colonial.

I went from 5" half-round to 6" when I had my gutters replaced. One thing I noticed that on breezy days, the wind blows the leaves out of the gutters - less cleaning needed. Not bad.

Bigger is better

Pretty much all gutters are aluminum unless you want to spend money on copper....6" gutter will be less prone to overflow and clog than 5".....

I'm a novice at this as we are looking to replace our gutters too. Did they tell you what gauge the aluminum is? That could indicate why it seemed flimsy.

To OP: Are you getting k-style or half-round gutters?

K-style can handle more water than half-round, and a 5" k-style can handle about much water as 6" half-round. Half-round is also a lot more expensive than k-style. But even among k-style aluminum, there is a wide range of choices--mostly regarding thickness, which ranges from .019" to .032," but also on finishes. On top of the range is the .032" Kynar gutters with baked enamel finish. You should ask R&G to specify the material on their estimate.

Here is one gutter supply place with some relevant info: http://www.egutter.com/RAIN-GUTTER-COMMERCIAL-GUTTERS-GUTTER-SUPPLY-GUTTER-GUARDS/K-Style-Aluminum-Gutters

Good luck!

I wouldn't have even known to ask about the gauge, but now I will!!!