Should Screened Porches Have Gutters?

Basement

• If you have a basement, you are going to want to put gutters on anything and everything you can. Water management is key when it comes to preventing basement floods. A small porch with no gutter can lead to hundreds of gallons of standing water at the foundation of your home and, potentially, water in your basement. You will save yourself a lot of headache by installing a gutter and downspout system now, rather than after a flood.

Porch Size

• If your porch is a small, narrow constructions abutted up against a house wall that has a gutter of its own, you may be able to get away with forgoing gutter installation. Any construction of significant size, however, is probably going to need a gutter just to deal with water runoff. The larger the surface area of the roof, the more water it catches during a rain storm, and the more water you have pouring down along the lowest edge of your porch.

Ground Type

• If you opt not to install gutters on your porch, realize that in a rain storm water will be cascading down in a straight line along the perimeter of your roof. Dirt will be splashed back up on to the wall of your porch, and you will likely have problems with erosion. If your porch is surrounded by pavement, or cement, this may not be as much of an issue.

Door Location

• One thing to keep is mind is where the door or doors are located on your porch. If they are on the wall that is the lowest point of the porch roof, you are going to be running through a waterfall every time it rains. If the doors are located on the sloped ends of the porch, this won't be the case.