Better water control with cleaner exterior lines.
Request a ConsultationThe roofline reads as one clean line — profiles that sit like trim instead of hardware.
Roof water lands where it should: away from the siding, the walks, and the foundation, in every season.
The flat-backed profile most homes carry — higher capacity, crisp front edge that reads like trim.
The default for most Central Ohio homes.
The traditional open-curve profile — softer, older, and honest on prewar homes.
Pairs with round downspouts and cast-look brackets.
Where the water actually goes — the least glamorous decision with the most consequence.
Fewer, better-placed drops usually beat many afterthoughts.
You will not be handed a catalog and left to guess. Westmere walks the options with you against your actual house — what suits the architecture, what solves the problem, what can wait — and puts the recommendation in one clear written plan before any work begins, with one point of contact from the first visit to the final walkthrough.
The technical detail, for readers who want it.
Roof edges, outlets, downspouts, and discharge paths are planned to collect roof water and move it away from the house.
Capacity begins with the roof area and pitch feeding each run. The plan continues through gutter slope, outlet and downspout placement, fascia condition, and the point where water reaches the ground.
Behind the finished work: drip edge, fascia condition, gutter slope, hanger spacing, outlet size, downspout routing, and final discharge.
The profile changes the appearance, hanger approach, and way the gutter meets the roof edge. Capacity still has to match the roof it serves.
K-style gutters have an angular face and a flat back at the fascia. They suit many conventional roof edges and accept standard rectangular outlets and downspouts.
Half-round gutters have a visible curved profile supported by external brackets. They are often paired with round downspouts and make the gutter line a more deliberate architectural detail.
A gutter’s job is simple: catch everything your roof sheds and get it away from the house. When it fails, water runs down and rots the fascia, streaks and soaks the siding, and drops right at the foundation — where central Ohio’s clay soil holds it. Clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry, and a foundation sitting in that cycle moves with it. Many wet basements in Columbus are not plumbing problems. They are roof water delivered to the wrong spot, a few gallons at a time, for years.
Standard 5-inch gutters handle most roofs in most storms. Whether yours is “most roofs” is math, not a guess — it depends on how much roof drains into each run and how steep it is. A big roof plane, or a valley funneling two planes into one stretch, can overwhelm a 5-inch gutter in a summer thunderstorm. That is where 6-inch earns its place, paired with bigger downspouts — a gutter can only move what its outlets can swallow. We size the whole system to your roof, not to what is on the truck.
A gutter that looks level should not be. Every run is sloped toward its downspouts so water moves instead of standing — standing water corrodes seams, breeds mosquitoes, and freezes into a weight the hangers were never meant to hold. We set hangers at close, even spacing so runs do not sag into low spots, and we plan long runs before fabrication — sometimes draining to both ends, sometimes with an extra downspout.
The downspout is not the finish line. Water dumped right at the foundation was managed all the way down the wall, then abandoned where it does the most damage. Extensions and splash blocks are the minimum; where the yard allows, we send discharge well away from the house, onto ground that slopes away. On clay soil, those last few feet are the difference between a dry basement and a damp one.
Under mature trees — common in Bexley, Grandview Heights, and Upper Arlington — gutters clog. Guards help, with tradeoffs. Micro-mesh keeps out leaves and maple helicopters; surface-tension covers shed big debris. None are maintenance-free: they turn cleaning from a several-times-a-season chore into an occasional check. We will recommend one that fits your trees and roof — and tell you plainly if your house does not need one.
FAQ
From the field Practical notes before you decide
Westmere will review the roof edge, the discharge path, and the profile and downspout choices.