Are Gutters Required By Code

Drive around any neighborhood in san diego los angeles riverside or orange county and you are going to see some homes that have full gutter systems some that have partial gutters and some with no gutters at all.

Are gutters required by code.

In order to decide for yourself whether rain gutters are necessary for your home it is best to first weigh the facts. Gutters and downspouts are not required in dry b climates as shown in the iecc climate zone map 2009 iecc figure 301 1 and table 301 1. It takes 96 15 square feet 8 93 square meters of surface with 1 inch per hour 25 mm hr of water to correspond with 1 gpm 0 063 l s flow rate. If gutters don t slope water gathers in them.

The amount of collected water increases until it spills over the sides of the gutter. This is generally true regardless of when the house was built or who the builder was. Downspouts and gutters are sized in relation to rainfall on this basis. The international codes i codes are the widely accepted comprehensive set of model codes used in the us and abroad to help ensure the engineering of safe sustainable affordable and resilient structures.

Local codes may require that drainage systems only be designed for the latter. Section r903 4 prescribes drainage requirements only for those roofs that do not drain over roof edges traditional pitched roofs do not need gutters and downspouts to satisfy code. If gutters slope too severely they don t hold water and water could splash over the sides in heavy rain. International energy conservation code iecc climate regions.

1 if the roof overhang eave is less than 6 inches. So no gutters are not required by code but positive drainage away from a building foundation while controlling erosion is required by code. Gutters are not required by the international residential code irc or the residential edition of the florida building code fbc with two exceptions. Welcome to gutter supply your online reference for gutters gutter machines gutter guards and accessories.

See ubc 1804 7 no distance indicated. The international code council icc is a non profit organization dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design build and compliance process. Come visit our selection of quality products. Do southern california homes need rain gutters.

Rain gutters are the most controversial type of gutter. They are generally not required by law on a sloping roof and many modern homes omit them even in instances where they are beneficial. On the other hand section r405 1 does require foundation drainage and provides fairly elaborate direction due to the importance of keeping basements dry.