It doesn’t matter if you’re getting ready to build a brand new home in Sleepy Hollow or replace the gutters on your older home in Wolflin. If you want curb appeal that lasts, proper gutter placement is critical to protecting your home against the Texas Panhandle elements.
Rain falls lightly most of the year in Amarillo, but then our near-tropical “monsoon-style” thunderstorms arrive out of nowhere and dump inches of rain in hours. So when that deluge comes, you want water running away from your home’s foundation, the most important component of your home.
Correct Rain Gutter Placement for Protecting an Amarillo Home
Ideally, gutters should be placed around the entire perimeter of the roof, past the eaves. However, there are a couple other things to consider with gutter placement here in the Panhandle.
Wind Drives Rain Here: Let’s face it, we live in one of the windiest cities in the country. So even though rain falls from the sky, it doesn’t usually fall straight down on your house. Gutter placement has to account for “driving rain” blowing at you at 50mph.
Downspout Placement Locations: We also live above expansive clay soil here in the Panhandle. Expansive means it swells when wet and grows huge cracks when it dries. If gutter placement causes water to run too close to your foundation, that clay will expand and put tons of pressure on your foundation. That’s why we design gutter systems with downspouts in locations where you can run extensions away from the house at least 5–10 feet from the slab.
Pitch (Slope) Matters Too
You might look at your gutters from the street and think they’re perfectly horizontal. They’re not. In order to work properly, gutters have to have a slight “slope” or “pitch.”
The Amarillo Shift: Like we mentioned before, the soil around here moves. That’s why you’ll see many older gutters start to “back-slope” as the house settles over time, causing water to drain backward, away from the downspout.
Heavy “Shingle Grit”: We also get a LOT of hail here in Amarillo. And hail beats granules off your shingles. Over time, if gutter slopes aren’t absolutely perfect, you’ll end up with pounds of “shingle grit” building up in the bottom of your gutters. It makes a big ol’ mess of sludge that can pull gutters away from the house when it gets heavy.
Gutter Placement Includes Hanger Placement Too
You know those little metal pieces that connect your gutters to the fascia? We call them gutter hangers, and they matter too.
Close Spaced Hangers for Amarillo Homes: Gutters installers in Florida and Arizona can space those guys way apart. Not here! Incredibly heavy ice and wet snow bombard Amarillo homes every winter. That’s why New Vision Exteriors places gutter hangers every 18 inches. Don’t let some installer talk you into the 36″ spacing you’ll find in “warm climate” online guides.
Wind Lifts Gutters Off Hook: Closely spaced gutter hangers also keep Panhandle windstorms from “hooking” your gutter like a fishing line and pulling it away from your wood fascia during a dust storm or windy spring afternoon.
Built to Weather the Next Amarillo Wind & Hail Storm
Here in the Texas Panhandle, proper gutter placement isn’t always as simple as copying what your neighbor did. Soil conditions, wind, and severe hail play a big role in how your gutters work and how long they’ll last.
Call New Vision Exteriors today and schedule your FREE inspection! We’ll make sure your gutters are placed to survive whatever Mother Nature throws at them in Amarillo!