Not on most houses. Codes focus on carrying roof water away from the foundation where the soil makes that necessary, and gutters are one common way to do it. Your local building department can tell you what applies to your home.
Get My Free Estimate →Your house needs gutters if roof water lands where it can reach the foundation, the siding or the entry steps. That covers most homes with a basement, short roof overhangs, or ground that is flat or slopes toward the house.
A house with wide overhangs, ground that falls away on every side and no basement can sometimes go without them. Even then, short runs over doors and walkways usually earn their place.
Buckshot installs seamless gutters and downspouts across Wisconsin and Iowa. This guide helps you decide whether your house needs them, and where.
What gutters do for a house
One inch of rain on 500 square feet of roof is about 300 gallons of water. Without gutters, all of it falls along the drip line beside your foundation.
Clay soil, common around Madison, holds that water instead of absorbing it. The water then sits against the foundation wall and works toward the basement, as our guide to how gutters protect your foundation explains.
Gutters collect the water at the roof edge and send it to downspouts. We place downspouts to carry the water at least 6 feet from the foundation, with extensions or buried drains where the ground needs it.
Signs your house needs gutters
Walk around the house during a steady rain and again the next day. These signs mean roof water is landing in the wrong place.
- A trench of bare soil or washed-out mulch along the roof edge
- Mud splashed onto the lower siding or the foundation
- Water pooling against the foundation after a rain
- A damp basement wall or corner, often on the same side of the house each time
- Peeling paint, rot or mold on the lower siding, trim or window sills
- Water pouring onto steps, a door or a walkway, where it turns to ice in winter
When a house may not need gutters
Four things decide how much a house depends on gutters. The more of them that sit in the left column, the more your house needs them.
| Factor | Gutters matter more | Gutters matter less |
|---|---|---|
| Roof overhang | Short or none | Wide, holding water well away from the walls |
| Ground around the house | Flat, or sloping toward the house | Sloping away on every side |
| Foundation | Basement or crawl space | Slab with no basement |
| Soil | Clay that holds water | Sandy soil that drains quickly |
Roof shape matters too. A steep roof, a large roof plane or a valley sends a heavy stream of water to one spot, which the ground below cannot absorb.
A house can also need gutters on some sides and not others. A run over the entry, a deck or the side where the ground slopes toward the house often solves the problem on its own.
Metal roofs, garages and other special cases
A metal roof sheds water faster than shingles, so gutters on a metal roof are usually sized up. Our guide to 5-inch and 6-inch gutters treats a metal roof as a reason to choose 6-inch.
Snow also slides off a metal roof in sheets, and an unprotected gutter is often the first thing it damages. Our guide to snow guards on metal roofs explains how snow guards hold the snow back so the gutters survive the winter.
A detached garage that drains onto open lawn may not need gutters. One that drains onto a driveway sloping toward the house, or onto the door you walk through, usually does.
Not sure your house needs gutters? Our gutter and drainage inspection is free, and we will show you where roof water is reaching your foundation.
Free on-site inspection · Family-owned since 1979
Want a straight answer on your roof?
We'll inspect it, document everything, and tell you honestly what you're looking at, even if the answer is patch it for now. No pressure.
Do gutters cause ice dams in a Wisconsin winter?
No. Ice dams form at the roof edge whether a house has gutters or not, because heat escaping into the attic melts the snow above the eave.
Removing gutters trades an ice problem for a wet foundation. As our guide to heated gutters puts it, the answer is better drainage and less meltwater, and our ice dam guide explains the attic fix.
Clean, correctly pitched gutters drain meltwater before it can freeze and back up. Packed debris makes winter ice worse, which is one reason homeowners add gutter guards.
What a gutter installation involves
Our crews form seamless gutters on site in one continuous run for each wall. The only joints are at the corners and the downspouts, and the gutters are color-matched to your trim.
- Sizing. We choose 5-inch or 6-inch gutters, in a K-style or half-round profile, for the roof area each run drains.
- Downspouts. Each downspout is sized to the roof area it carries and placed where the water can drain away. Our guide to how many downspouts you need explains the count.
- Fascia check. Gutters hang on the fascia board, so rotted fascia is replaced first and the gutter is anchored in sound wood.
- Pitch. Each run is pitched toward its downspout so water drains instead of sitting.
- Discharge. Downspouts end at least 6 feet from the foundation, with extensions or underground drains.
Most homes are done in a day. Our guide to gutter installation cost and our gutter cost page explain what drives the price.
Get a straight answer on your gutters
Buckshot Exteriors is family-owned, has served homeowners since 1979, and has offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Centerville, Iowa. Our own crews install seamless gutters, downspouts, underground drains and gutter guards.
Call (608) 909-9109 to schedule a free gutter and drainage inspection, or send us a message and we will set a time. If you would rather check first, watch where water lands in the next steady rain.
Our guide to gutter drainage problems shows what each sign means.
Get a straight answer on your Madison roof
Wisconsin storm season and insurance non-renewal letters do not wait. Get a free, no-obligation inspection and an honest assessment of exactly what your roof needs, even if the answer is to wait.