Gutters in Austin: a guide to repair, installation and drainage

Thirty-four inches of rain, and most of it in a hurry

Austin averages around 34 inches of rain a year, which is less than Houston or Dallas. The catch is how it arrives. This part of Texas is called flash-flood alley for a reason: the Balcones Escarpment squeezes Gulf moisture upward, and storms here can drop two to three inches an hour. May and October are the wettest months, and the Halloween 2013 and Memorial Day 2015 floods on Onion Creek were both single-night events. A gutter here can sit dry for six weeks and then be asked to carry more water in forty minutes than it will see for the rest of the season.

That is the first thing gutters in Austin, TX need to be sized for. A 5-inch gutter with 2x3 downspouts, which is what most local homes got from the builder, cannot keep up with a two-inch-an-hour burst off a two-story roof. It overflows at the far end of the run, and the homeowner assumes it's clogged. Usually it isn't; most Austin gutters were simply never sized for that kind of rain.

The ground is the second problem

West of MoPac, Austin is limestone with a few inches of soil on top. Water doesn't soak in; it runs. A downspout that dumps at the corner of a house in Northwest Hills or Steiner Ranch cuts a channel through the bed, undermines the patio, and heads for the neighbor's lot. East of I-35 it's the opposite: Blackland Prairie clay that swells when it's wet and shrinks in August, and a slab in Pflugerville or Manor moves with it. Either way, where the water lands matters as much as whether the gutter leaks, and a good gutter job ends with every downspout discharging somewhere that doesn't hurt the house.

The third: a lot of houses here have no gutters at all

Builders skipped gutters here for decades because it "doesn't rain much." Circle C, Milwood, Anderson Mill, Wells Branch and most of the 1980s–2000s subdivisions from Round Rock to Kyle have whole streets of homes with a bare drip edge, mud splashed two feet up the brick, and a foundation contractor's card on the fridge. First-time installation is one of the most common gutter jobs in town, and it is typically priced like a replacement without the tear-off.

The main gutter services

Gutter repair — resealing corners and end caps, re-hanging sagging runs on hidden hangers, replacing crushed downspouts, adding a second downspout to a run that only has one, and rebuilding the fascia that rotted behind an overflowing gutter. Most repairs typically run $150–$600 and take a morning. The gutter repair guide covers each job and what it usually costs.

Seamless installation and replacement — 5-inch or 6-inch .032 aluminum formed on site from a coil, with 3x4 downspouts where the roof area calls for them, because of how the rain falls here. A single-story home with 160 feet of gutter is typically $1,600–$2,500; two-story and 6-inch systems run more. Details are in the installation guide and full tables on the pricing page.

Gutter guards — micro-mesh and screen guards, which one survives live oak leaf drop in March and cedar elm in November, and when guards aren't worth the money. See gutter guards.

Gutter cleaning — usually priced flat by home size. A good cleaning includes a ladder check, so you hear about a loose hanger before it's a repair. See gutter cleaning.

Rain barrels, rain chains and downspout drainage — Austin homeowners like catching the water, but a rain chain on a 40-foot run will overshoot in a May storm. Barrels and chains need to be set up so they look right and still work in a downpour. See rain barrels and drainage.

Areas this guide covers

Central Austin from Hyde Park and Tarrytown down through Travis Heights and Barton Hills; the west side through Westlake, Northwest Hills, Steiner Ranch, Lakeway and Bee Cave; north through Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock, Pflugerville and Georgetown; south to Buda, Kyle and Dripping Springs. Area codes 512 and 737. Lakeway and Cedar Park have their own guides because their houses and lots differ from central Austin.

Licensing, since people ask

Texas has no statewide license just for gutter installation, but the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) licenses related trades and cities can require registration or permits, so check with TDLR and your city about permits. Either way, ask any contractor for liability and workers' comp certificates sent by their agent; many Texas employers opt out of workers' comp, so ask. The about page has the full checklist for comparing gutter companies and quotes.

If you're reading this after a storm

A downspout that came off in last night's wind is a foundation problem by this afternoon if it's raining again. Say so when you request an estimate, so the contractor knows it's urgent. Photograph any damage yourself from the ground and call your insurance agent if a claim is possible. If it's a dry week and you're being cautious instead, the storm-season checklist is a ten-minute walk-around you can do yourself.