Gutters in a city where it never rains, until it does

Four inches of rain a year does not sound like it needs a gutter, and most valley tracts were built without one. The problem is that the four inches do not arrive evenly. A monsoon cell in July or August can drop an inch in an hour, and a tile roof sheds that water in a sheet, straight onto the slab, the footings, the front step and the garage apron.

It undermines the slab at the drip line, stains the stucco, floods the entry, and finds any crack in the foundation. In a yard with a pool it takes the decomposed granite with it. A gutter with a downspout placed properly takes the same water to a splash block or a drain and away from the house.

A seamless gutter is rolled from a coil at your home in one continuous run, so the only joins are at the corners. A sectional gutter is joined every few feet with a sealed slip connector, and the desert sun cooks every one of those seals. Start there; the profile and the metal come second.

Five-inch OG carries most homes. A large or steep tile roof sheds water faster than a shingle roof, and six-inch is the right call there, with a 3-by-4 downspout rather than a 2-by-3. We size it at the estimate from the roof, not from a rule of thumb.

Aluminum comes in a baked-on color to match the fascia or the stucco trim, does not rust, and is the right answer for nearly every home. Copper is chosen for how it looks against stone and tile: bright when new, then brown, then green. Both carry our lifetime warranty against leaks.