We have a smallish 1,600 sqft 1950's home in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas and recently redid all of our flowerbeds. It is a blackland alkaline clay soil which I tilled and brought in a couple yards of peat moss/shale/compost soil to help with drainage.

Well my pittosporums are soaked, some of the loropetalum and rosemary are sad, and I am worried about my junipers and drift roses. Not to mention my mulch keeps floating away.

Most of the homes around here are without gutter. I am thinking of bucking that trend. What are your experiences with the different styles and types of gutters? I've seen people with chains for downspouts, others fed underground, water retention barrels, ect.

What do you think 195 feet of gutters costs? Do I go to someone local or a big box store?

I assume the years of water caused the uncoverd back patio to sink where it meets the house's concrete skirt (we are on pier and beam). The old broken slab is being demolished this fall and replaced with concrete pavers.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Sounds to me that you need gutters if your mulch is washing away. It would be different if you had rock or something for the water to fall on and get away from the foundation.

I've just gotten recs from neighbors in the past. The big box stores are just hiring locals and then adding a management fee.

I would get gutters and if you're having that much in drainage issues I'd add a concrete runner away from the down spouts. If you're in Lake Highlands, you probably have a fair amount of trees around and I'd go with a covered gutter. You'll be glad you did.

aezmvp said:

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If you're in Lake Highlands, you probably have a fair amount of trees around and I'd go with a covered gutter. You'll be glad you did.

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This x 100

With different plants, I am in the exact same situation (same location, issues, etc.) Live just behind the police station. Let me know who you end up hiring and how the job goes.

I'm in LH too. I called GutterMaxx late last summer trying to get a ballpark idea of what covered gutter might cost. They were really hesitant to tell me anything over the phone but I worked my way to someone who gave me this:

Regular downspout is $7 per linear foot
Oversized downspout is $9 per linear foot
Gutters range $25-$35 per linear foot
Mitered corners are $20 each

I haven't called them back (or anyone else) since then for a more specific quote, but that might be a starting point.

txaggie_2011 said:

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I'm in LH too. I called GutterMaxx late last summer trying to get a ballpark idea of what covered gutter might cost. They were really hesitant to tell me anything over the phone but I worked my way to someone who gave me this:

Regular downspout is $7 per linear foot
Oversized downspout is $9 per linear foot
Gutters range $25-$35 per linear foot
Mitered corners are $20 each

I haven't called them back (or anyone else) since then for a more specific quote, but that might be a starting point.

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WOW, $25-$35 per linear foot...what are theirs made of, copper or gold?

I just had almond colored seamless gutters put on our house for $1,595 which included 272 linear foot of guttering, 8 downspouts, 4 inside corners and 8 outside corners. The leaf guard screening, which I highly recommend if under trees, costed an additional $400. Well worth it. That equates to approximately $5.86 per linear foot for the guttering alone and $1.47 per linear foot for the leaf guard...total of $7.33 for the whole enchilada.

I live in Sherman and am glad I do if LH gutter prices are that steep...no wonder they're call GutterMaxx.

Gutters are a pain in the keester - and if your foundation is used to being wet could cause serious damage by becoming drier than "normally".

Cleaning gutters is a much bigger issue than pushing back a bit of soil or coverage - especially if you have trees nearby. And, you may have to water those plants if you install gutters that you would not otherwise...

Gutters over and around porches and above garage doors/driveways - maybe around patios, where you might walk in the rain (BBQ pits?) etc., are good to keep from getting soaked for everyday issues but gutters all around are expensive and a maintenance nightmare!!

It seemed a bit much to me too, hence no call back since then.

Your rosemary will be sad unless it's in almost drought conditions and full sun. It likes abuse.

I vote for gutters, but that's coming from water getting into the crawlspace before I installed them along with downspouts that kick the runoff far enough away from the house.

I seldom recommend contractors or vendors but for gutters I sure will. Call Golden Touch Gutters, 469-693-2256, Jesse Galvan. Great customer attitude and did a great job. Original quote was $1294 for 183 feet of gutter, 6 downspouts, 4 inside miters (3 of them custom odd angles), 4 outside miters (1 custom odd angle), 183 feet of leaf screen, removed and disposed of 50 feet of old gutter, removed and repaired some rotted facia board. Color choice was mine. Increased down spout size from 3x4 to 4x5 for no increase in charge. When he finished he had 17-18 feet of aluminum stock left so he made a run of gutter and installed it over my garage door, no additional charge. Everything fabricated on site including the miters, color touched up on all bare edges and bends. I paid him extra for the job he did.

Aggie1 said:

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Gutters are a pain in the keester - and if your foundation is used to being wet could cause serious damage by becoming drier than "normally".

Cleaning gutters is a much bigger issue than pushing back a bit of soil or coverage - especially if you have trees nearby. And, you may have to water those plants if you install gutters that you would not otherwise...

Gutters over and around porches and above garage doors/driveways - maybe around patios, where you might walk in the rain (BBQ pits?) etc., are good to keep from getting soaked for everyday issues but gutters all around are expensive and a maintenance nightmare!!

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Not really if you have a proper screen/guard over them. We get oak leaves and pine straw on our roof and I rarely have to do anything but occasionally clean the clutter that builds up on top of the guard where there are deflectors below the junctions that make valleys.

HumbleAg said:

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Aggie1 said:

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Gutters are a pain in the keester - and if your foundation is used to being wet could cause serious damage by becoming drier than "normally".

Cleaning gutters is a much bigger issue than pushing back a bit of soil or coverage - especially if you have trees nearby. And, you may have to water those plants if you install gutters that you would not otherwise...

Gutters over and around porches and above garage doors/driveways - maybe around patios, where you might walk in the rain (BBQ pits?) etc., are good to keep from getting soaked for everyday issues but gutters all around are expensive and a maintenance nightmare!!

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Not really if you have a proper screen/guard over them. We get oak leaves and pine straw on our roof and I rarely have to do anything but occasionally clean the clutter that builds up on top of the guard where there are deflectors below the junctions that make valleys.

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To each his own.

Presently I have over 100 oak trees around my home and in my mowable yard area - most are 24-30 diameter and 40-60 feet tall... - and, I have tried the screens which get clogged with pre-leaf flowering catkins in the spring from the oak trees and the annual leaf fall as well - plus twigs and other foliage annual droppings. This has occurred to every house I have owned over the last 60 years all over the country - whether B-CS, Amarillo, Austin(Green Trails), SA(Windcrest), DFW(Irving/Fairview), DC(McLean), OKC(Edmond), NW AR, etc.

So, regardless of "the screen", my experience is that the litter piles up and simply allows water to run over the gutter regardless at least twice a year... - ...which means climbing ladders up to two-three stories or hanging off the edge of the roof trying to clear the screen (and downspouts) - and I am now nearly 80 years old - not really a good thing for me any more. If the home I buy has screens over the gutters I have typically removed them in all but the porch and garage overhangs the first time they clog up. If they don't have gutters, I have typically put them in over porches, driveway/Garages, etc - for not only rain, but also snow melt and ice accumulation.

The issue of soil moisture around the foundation being changed by adding gutters to an existing house that has not previously had gutters is a real issue in many cases. Foundations typically don't like big changes in their long lived moisture content - especially in a soil with a high clay content - which is very expansive. Plus, for me anyway, it is much easier to mess around with the mulch on the ground from rain washing than climbing ladders or crawling around on a steep roof incline.

And I don't have to water the plants as often that would normally get rainwater as well.

Aggie1 you bring up some good points and I would bet many have similar landscapes as yourself. My leaf problem is soon to be remedied with the cutting down of all six of my 30' persimmons. Not sure what the previous owners where doing planting those things like a grove in the backyard on a simple 11,000 sqft lot. If the bags and bags of leafs weren't enough, the popcorn flowers and millions of plum sized persimmons rotting would make me think twice about them as shade trees.

We happen to have a hip in my roof that joins near the front door and with heavy rain that entire area is awash. Besides the soaked plants, the simple rain in the past 6 months has formed a trough in the soil at the overhangs. My other problem is the years of rain has sunk my back patio. While it is being replaced this fall, I do not want to have to replace it too often.

I get not putting gutters under a tree; we will probably do this on the garage side as there is a live oak and hackberry quite close.

Pier and beam here so while the wet months do cause a slight shift, not that big of a problem. Would rather it stay dry than fluctuate.

Were there any other recommendations? I plan on calling Golden Touch this weekend.

FincAg
Like you, I have the roof hip meeting the front slope of my current house with a valley that emptied right over the front stairs beyond the porch that lead out to my circle driveway. My initial solution was to provide a 4'x6' flat area (with curbs and a cutout for drainage) to catch the runoff and simply divert it off to the side and away from the steps. To "waterproof it", I used about 5 gallons of fibrous plastic cement/coal tar pitch and thought that would solve the problem... Bad solution! It did not work well and within a few months I had leaks through the tar ruining the soffit of my little addition. So, I got a rubber shower pan and form fitted it to the topside area (and rolled over the curbs) and sealed all the edges after nailing with fibrous plastic cement. This has worked for several years and works like a charm now with no additional leakage!

To follow I made also made a pitched roof cover about 10 feet wide all the way from my "catch basin" out to the circle driveway (about 20 feet) which covered my steps and the walkway. In a calm wind and gentle rain it works fine - but any wind or gusts have made the cover useless from a severe weather cover - but it is helpful from a shade perspective and generally keeps the snow and ice off the steps and walkway. The 2 homes we had before this one both had a large 4-car porte cochere with a wide connection to the house/porch which was wide enough coverage to be useful in all but the most blustery weather.

Guess what one of my next projects will be? Yep, a porte cochere here as this is likely my final stop. But it has to wait until after I enlarge the master bath/bedroom/closet addition (about 600 additional sq ft underway presently) and build/upgrade a new kitchen with all Ikea cabinets (currently waiting patiently in a box truck sitting on my driveway for another about 500 sq ft addition opposite end of house...). My bride says I cannot relax and keeps me busy as I am doing the work myself. I do encourage my sons to visit on weekends as often as possible too

Living out in the countryside has a lot of advantages - mainly not having to deal with permits and code compliance inspectors and having to worry about trimming grass and edging to meet the nosy neighbor standards or some homeowners rules enforced by an idiot...

Aggie1 - fair enough. My home is single story so I don't have the same issues as you even though we have hundreds of trees around our home too. I installed screens on the gutters of our previous home which was a 2-story but I was in my 30s when I did that and quite a bit less concerned about working at heights. Now I am 62 so more conscious about those things and not as spry as I used to be.

Pier & beam, especially those shallow piers ala 50's NEED gutters to control roof runoff that should be collected and disbursed at least 10' away from all foundations. It's the slab-on-grade foundation perimeters that appreciate the consistent moisture content of soils getting roof runoff.

If you were skilled or a savvy, licensed landscape architect on board THEN you might consider the intricate routing of this gutter water through perforated pipes buried near thirsty plantings as it passes out & away from foundations and soaking beds.

You may want (sans Land.Arch) to direct the gutter design to deposit water into leaders/downspouts near the exterior thirsty corners that allow almost 270d of yard to disburse water away from foundation.