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Gutters · Largo

Gutters in Largo, FL

Water covers only 5.0% of Largo's area, yet NOAA's Atlas 14 puts a 10-year, five-minute downpour at the city's center at 9.92 inches an hour. Gutters in Largo have to be sized for that burst, and they have to send the water far enough from the walls to keep it away from the foundation.

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Updated October 2026

Drone view of a single-story home with a brown-gray shingle roof and box vents under large oak trees, a metal carport roof in the corner and a street behind.

Local know-how

9.92 inches an hour: the Largo downpour a gutter must carry

Those Atlas 14 numbers come from the Census point at Largo's center. The 100-year version of the same five-minute burst is 13.2 inches an hour, the 100-year, one-hour rate is 4.06, and a 10-year storm can drop 7.18 inches of rain in 24 hours.

Yearly totals look tamer. NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is 53.62 inches, with about 62-63% falling from June through September, and NWS Tampa Bay dates the rainy season for most of West Central Florida from about May 25 to October 10.

Code and upkeep

Downspouts, fascia and cleaning on Largo houses

A Largo house needs gutters by code only if its eaves stick out less than 6 inches, with exceptions at gable rakes and at a roof above another roof (FBCR R318.5). The downspout half of that section reaches further: any downspout must let its water out at least 1 foot from the wall, and the rule appears among the code's termite-protection provisions.

Gutters and leaders must be metal or approved plastic with lapped, soldered or caulked joints, fastened with corrosion-resistant hardware compatible with the gutter (FBCR R903.4.2). On houses near the city's 1978 median build year, check the fascia before new runs go up: Florida puts fascia repair inside roof work, and the specialty-structure scope lists soffit, fascia and gutters together.

The same house in the same downpour with a white seamless gutter catching the runoff and a downspout discharging onto a splash block, flower bed intact (illustration)Illustration
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Rain on your roof

How much water a Largo roof sheds

Rain on your roof

Preset: 7.18 inches, the 10-year 24-hour rain (NOAA Atlas 14 at Largo).

8,946 gallons run off that roof, all of it toward the gutters and downspouts.

Math: square feet × inches × 0.623 gallons.

Questions

Gutters in Largo: questions

What size gutters suit a Largo house?

It depends on how much roof drains into each run. At Largo's Atlas 14 rate of 9.92 inches an hour for a 10-year, five-minute burst, a 6-inch half-round gutter carries water from roughly 1,066 square feet of roof plan area and a 5-inch from about 717, by our arithmetic on the plumbing code's table, before any pitch factor. The 6-inch moves about 49% more at the same slope. A normal year brings 53.62 inches to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, but sizing follows the burst, not the total.

Source: 2023 FBC-Plumbing Table 1106.6 (UpCodes, unofficial transcription) and NOAA Atlas 14, read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

When is the right time to clean gutters in Largo?

Three times a year suits a house under oaks and pines: after the spring oak leaf drop and pollen in late April or May, before the June-to-September storm months, and after the autumn pine-needle peak. UF/IFAS puts Florida's pollen season from January to June, peaking in March and April, and the heaviest needle fall from September through November. Tower Hill, a Florida home insurer, recommends at least two cleanings a year. In Largo, about 62-63% of a normal year's rain arrives from June through September, so the pre-summer cleaning matters most.

Source: UF/IFAS and Tower Hill Insurance Group, read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

Do new gutters on a Largo house need a permit?

The building official decides. The Florida Building Code requires a permit to alter or repair a building and lets ordinary minor repairs skip one only with the building official's approval (FBC-B 105.2.2); for a Largo address that official sits in the City of Largo's Building Division. If the gutters go up during a re-roof, ask whether the roof permit covers them. Either way, the downspouts have to discharge at least 1 foot from the wall under FBCR R318.5.

Source: 2023 FBC-Building 105 and FBCR R318.5, read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

Sources for this page(21)
  1. 1.U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2020 place geography (AREALAND/AREAWATER) via TIGERweb tigerWMS_Census2020. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  2. 2.Median year homes were built: 1978. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024), table B25035, via Census Reporter API. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  3. 3.Permit office: City of Largo - Building Division. City of Largo - Building Division. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  4. 4.NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, stations USC00087886 ST PETERSBURG and USW00012873 ST PETERSBURG INTL AP. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  5. 5.2023 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").
  6. 6.bergerbp.com. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  7. 7.2023 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).
  8. 8.2023 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").
  9. 9.2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., Chapter 9 (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-29 (the research cites it "as COM-29").
  10. 10.law.cornell.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  11. 11.blogs.ifas.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  12. 12.ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  13. 13.thig.com. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  14. 14.ask.ifas.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  15. 15.National Weather Service. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  16. 16.FBC-B 2023 Ch. 1. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  17. 17.NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 9, version 2, point precipitation frequency estimates (partial-duration series) at Largo, NOAA National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center. Read Oct 5, 2026. Point: the 2020 TIGER internal point of the city (TIGERweb 2020 incorporated place internal point (INTPTLAT/INTPTLON), GEOID 1239425, Largo city).
  18. 18.Florida Statutes, section 627.7011 (2026). Read Oct 4, 2026.
  19. 19.Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  20. 20.Insp4pt 03 25. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  21. 21.NOAA Atlas 14 at Largo: 9.92 in/hr (5-minute, 10-year). NOAA Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Data Server. Read Oct 5, 2026.

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Gutters in Largo

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