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Gutters · Alachua

Gutters in Alachua, FL

Five minutes of a 10-year storm at Alachua's own NOAA Atlas 14 point come down at 9.47 inches an hour, a shade harder than the 9.2 at the county's Gainesville point, and a 25-year storm reaches 11.0. Size the gutters and downspouts for that burst and they carry it; size them for an ordinary shower and the front of the house gets a waterfall.

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Updated October 2026

Low aerial view over a gray-blend shingle roof with gables and valleys, palm trees, a street and parked cars behind.

Local know-how

Downspouts first, then gutter size

A gutter can only empty as fast as its leaders. Florida's plumbing code rates a 2 by 2 inch downspout at 30 gallons a minute, a 2 1/2 by 3 inch or 3-inch round at 92, and a 4-inch round at 192. A long run feeding one small leader backs up even when the gutter itself is big enough.

Spread over a full hour, a 10-year storm at Alachua's point averages 2.81 inches an hour, and a 10-year day of rain totals 6.06 inches. The five-minute peak, more than three times the hourly rate, is what decides whether water jumps the front lip.

Seasons

Alachua's wet months and leaf drop

The county's climate normals at Gainesville Regional Airport show 48.31 inches of rain a year, 20.64 of them in June through August, and 73.2 days a year with a tenth of an inch or more.

Oak leaves and pollen pile up first. UF/IFAS puts pollen season from January to June, peaking in March and April, so a cleaning in May clears the spring load before the summer rain arrives.

Under the code, downspouts discharge at least a foot from the house. Homes in Alachua flooded during Hurricane Debby in 2024, so carry that water farther where the yard allows, and keep it off driveways and walks. The city has little open water, 0.37 square miles or 1.0% of its area, and grading decides where runoff ends up.

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Rain on your roof

How much water an Alachua roof sheds

Rain on your roof

Preset: 6.06 inches, the 10-year 24-hour rain (NOAA Atlas 14 at Alachua).

7,551 gallons run off that roof, all of it toward the gutters and downspouts.

Math: square feet × inches × 0.623 gallons.

Questions

Gutters in Alachua: questions

How do I know my Alachua gutters are too small?

Watch them in a hard summer rain. If water pours over the front edge at corners or in the middle of a run, the gutter or its downspouts cannot carry the burst, which reaches 9.47 inches an hour in a 10-year storm at Alachua's own Atlas 14 point. The plumbing code's capacity tables show that a bigger gutter, a larger leader or an added downspout each raise what the system can carry, so the fix is not always a whole new run. June through August, when the county's climate station averages 20.64 inches of rain, is when an undersized system shows itself.

Source: 2023 Florida Building Code, Plumbing, 8th ed., Chapter 11 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription), read Oct 5, 2026

Related: Gutters

Should I get gutter guards in Alachua?

They cut cleaning but do not end it. Consumer Reports' testing found fine-mesh screens beat screens with larger holes, yet even the top performer was only middling in a severe downpour, and screens may still need brushing in high-pollen areas. Alachua's oak pollen runs from January to June, and the county's climate station records 20.64 inches of rain in June through August, so plan on checking a screened gutter after the spring drop either way.

Source: consumerreports.org, read Oct 5, 2026

Related: Gutters

Why check the fascia before new gutters go up in Alachua?

Because the gutter hangs on it. On a house from 1996, Alachua's median year, the fascia has been through many wet seasons, and soft or stained wood behind an old gutter means water has been getting in. Florida's roofing contractor scope includes repairing or replacing fascia as needed during roof work, and the state's specialty structure scope lists soffit, fascia and gutters together. Replace bad boards before hanging new runs.

Source: law.cornell.edu, read Oct 5, 2026

Related: Gutters

Nearby

Gutters near Alachua

Sources for this page(38)
  1. 1.NWS Jacksonville, County Impacts narratives (Post Tropical Cyclone Report). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  2. 2.Water share of total area: 36.19 sq mi land, 0.37 sq mi water (water = 1.0% of total area). U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census counts (POP100/HU100) and 2020 TIGER land/water area, via TIGERweb tigerWMS_Census2020 layer 26. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  3. 3.Median year homes were built: 1996. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25035, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  4. 4.NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (annual/seasonal), station USW00012816. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  5. 5.NOAA Atlas 14 (HDSC Precipitation Frequency Data Server). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  6. 6.2023 Florida Building Code, Plumbing, 8th ed., Chapter 11 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription). Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7). Source URL inherited from COM-20 (the research cites it "as COM-20").
  7. 7.blogs.ifas.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  8. 8.ask.ifas.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  9. 9.2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., Chapter 8 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription). Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7). Source URL inherited from NC-2 (the research cites it "as NC-2").
  10. 10.2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., R318.5 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription); FBC-Building 1503.7. Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7).
  11. 11.consumerreports.org. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  12. 12.law.cornell.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  13. 13.NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  14. 14.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census counts (POP100/HU100) and 2020 TIGER land/water area, via TIGERweb tigerWMS_Census2020 layer 26, U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  15. 15.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25035, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  16. 16.NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 9 version 2, partial-duration point estimates at Alachua's 2020 TIGER internal point (HDSC PFDS), NOAA National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  17. 17.NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 9 version 2, partial-duration precipitation depths at Alachua's 2020 TIGER internal point (HDSC PFDS), NOAA National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  18. 18.NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 9 (Southeastern States) version 2, partial-duration series point estimates at Gainesville (the Alachua County point), via the HDSC PFDS endpoint, NOAA National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center. Read Oct 5, 2026. County point, quoted for comparison with Alachua's own point.
  19. 19.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25003, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  20. 20.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25034, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  21. 21.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B01001, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  22. 22.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25024, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  23. 23.City of Alachua, Historic Main Street page (read via WebFetch), City of Alachua. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  24. 24.National Park Service NPGallery NRHP record (listing date from Wikipedia county NRHP list), National Park Service. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  25. 25.City of Alachua Building Division, official page, City of Alachua. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  26. 26.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B25003, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  27. 27.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024), table B01001, via Census Reporter API (release acs2024_5yr), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  28. 28.Alachua County Growth Management - Building Division, official page, Alachua County. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  29. 29.NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, event 720358 (Tropical Storm, 2017-09-10, zone/county ALACHUA), bulk details file; NHC TCR AL112017; FEMA OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 (designatedArea = county), NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  30. 30.NHC TCR AL042024; NWS Jacksonville, County Impacts narratives (Post Tropical Cyclone Report); FEMA OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 (designatedArea = county), NOAA National Hurricane Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  31. 31.NWS Jacksonville, County Impacts narratives (Post Tropical Cyclone Report); FEMA OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 (designatedArea = county), National Weather Service Jacksonville. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  32. 32.NWS Jacksonville, County Impacts narratives (Post Tropical Cyclone Report); FEMA OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 (designatedArea = county), National Weather Service Jacksonville. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  33. 33.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census counts (POP100/HU100) and 2020 TIGER land/water area, via TIGERweb tigerWMS_Census2020 layer 26 (2020 Census count), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  34. 34.FBC-B 2023 Ch. 1, Florida Building Commission (code text via viewer). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  35. 35.Florida Building Commission, "Florida Building Code Effective Dates". Read Oct 5, 2026.
  36. 36.Florida Statutes, section 553.844 (2026), Florida Building Commission (code text via viewer). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  37. 37.Florida Statutes, section 627.7011 (2026), Florida Legislature. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  38. 38.NOAA Atlas 14 at Alachua: 9.47 in/hr (5-minute, 10-year). NOAA Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Data Server. Read Oct 5, 2026.

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Gutters in Alachua

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