Seamless Gutters vs. Traditional Gutters

Seamless Gutters vs. Traditional Gutters

Gutters play a major role in protecting your home’s foundation and landscaping. Not managing the water coming off your roof leads to rain runoff dumping onto the ground. This creates ruts around your foundation in the dirt and allows water to sit against your foundation or seep into the basement or crawl space.

Traditional Gutters, also known as sectional gutters, come in sections that are joined together. These pieces usually come in 10-foot or 20-foot sections. Conversely, seamless gutters are custom-fit on-site, manufactured to the length needed without any joints or connectors every 10 to 20 feet.

Both seamless and traditional gutters come in 5-inch and 6-inch options. The 6-inch gutter handles more water than the 5-inch and is an ideal choice for areas that experience heavy rainfall, homes with larger roofs, or a steeper pitch of the roof.

At their connections, traditional gutters are famous for catching debris such as pine needles, leaves, small twigs, and anything else that finds its way into your gutters. Over time, this builds up and clogs. At these seams, we also frequently see rusting and leaking as joints need re-caulking or sealing.

Traditional gutters do boast the benefit of being easier to DIY and initially costing less, but tend to cost more in maintenance due to easily accumulating debris.

Seamless Gutters are custom fit, and without seams allow for better water flow and don’t snag debris along the run of the gutter. They also tend to be of a higher quality and are more durable and thicker, making it easier to hold up in storms and giving them a longer life span than traditional gutters. Seamless gutters do look cleaner on the home as well, offering better curb appeal.

While Seamless Gutters do cost more initially than sectional gutters, they require less maintenance over time and last longer, ultimately making them a better investment.

Ultimately, homeowners tend to consider the initial price, cost of upkeep, and longevity when determining the best gutters for their home. When it comes to Seamless Gutters, you will pay more upfront but will save on time and money in upkeep, repairs, and replacement versus traditional gutters, which are cheaper to install but cost a lot of time and money in maintenance and repairs.