Gutters are ridiculously cheap – installed costs run around five dollars a linear foot Expect to pay around nine dollars per linear foot (add same for 3x4 downspouts).

Something else that may have some bearing – how tall is the facia board? If it's a 1x6 or smaller a bigger gutter is going to look ridiculous because it hides the facia reveal.
If the facia is a 1x8 a 6" gutter will look fine.

If you have a narrower facia; a good solution might be to add 3 x 4 downspouts to the existing gutters – the ability for those little gutters to handle a torrent will increase substantially.

Wasn't this noticed during inspection/permit approval when the contractor build your addition? Do you have 4" gutters fir the rest of the house?

What did your contract say?

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he should replace them all with 6" gutters on his dime. Pretty standard now. Plus all down spouts should extend 10' away from your foundation. I trust he put in exterior drain tile (all new homes require foundation draining). Do you have a sump pump? Best to ask him now about foundation drainage: 10 year rains are frequenting more now off ten year schedule in the North East.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, I don't see that the builder did anything wrong. You paid for 4" gutter, got 4" gutter, and now are unhappy with 4" gutters although they seem to be properly installed and they work in the way they are designed to work. I understand that you were relying on your builder's expertise, but your builder gave you a budget and you agreed to that cost. There are always things that could be done in a better, more expensive way but you agreed to and paid for a certain level of work, and now you are unhappy with that work.

+1

No way. For this to be OK, I would expect the builder to say "We are putting on 4" gutters, that is not the current standard, which is 6"" They should have discussed it and put it in the contract (OP said neither happened) so that OP could make an informed decision. My plumber doesn't just put in a 400 gallon water heater without talking to me about it. Sure I would pay less, but I like to hear about the other sizes and prices as options.

Anonymous wrote:To me, I don't see that the builder did anything wrong. You paid for 4" gutter, got 4" gutter, and now are unhappy with 4" gutters although they seem to be properly installed and they work in the way they are designed to work. I understand that you were relying on your builder's expertise, but your builder gave you a budget and you agreed to that cost. There are always things that could be done in a better, more expensive way but you agreed to and paid for a certain level of work, and now you are unhappy with that work.

+1

6" is standard for new builds

To me, I don't see that the builder did anything wrong. You paid for 4" gutter, got 4" gutter, and now are unhappy with 4" gutters although they seem to be properly installed and they work in the way they are designed to work. I understand that you were relying on your builder's expertise, but your builder gave you a budget and you agreed to that cost. There are always things that could be done in a better, more expensive way but you agreed to and paid for a certain level of work, and now you are unhappy with that work.

See if the builder will refund you the labor and materials cost for the undersized gutters and use that to put up 6" gutters.

Our builder, back in 2008, tried to sell us some 4" gutters. I'm so glad we contracted out the gutter installation.

Yes, he should replace them all with 6" gutters on his dime. Pretty standard now. Plus all down spouts should extend 10' away from your foundation. I trust he put in exterior drain tile (all new homes require foundation draining). Do you have a sump pump? Best to ask him now about foundation drainage: 10 year rains are frequenting more now off ten year schedule in the North East.

We had a local design build firm do a large addition last year. They used 4" gutters which were not specified in advance via contract or conversation. When we have rain like last night (or the 6 times prior this year), the top level gutter overflows and pours water into a landscaped bed and is eroding the soil and killing the plants.

I now realize that 4" gutters have not been used as a standard size since the 60s or 70s. No idea why they were used here ... maybe the builder had extras or got a good price.

The builder is aware of the problem and suggested that his team would do the remediation. He's a nice guy so I'm not trying to start beef with him, but is this an expense that he should bear or is this on me (in which case I'll bid it out)? I feel like he should have done it right the first time and his work is guaranteed for a year (we're still within that), so this should be on him, but maybe not. What do you think?