Gutters for tile roofs in Roseville, Folsom and Sacramento

Why tile is different

With shingles, the water runs off a thin edge into a gutter hung right on the fascia. On a concrete S-tile or flat tile roof — the standard in Roseville's Westpark, Highland Reserve and Diamond Oaks, Folsom's Empire Ranch and Broadstone, and across Rocklin and the newer parts of Elk Grove — three things change:

1. The tile overhangs. The first course sticks out past the fascia by two or three inches, and water leaves the tile lip with some speed. A gutter hung tight to the fascia at shingle height is partly behind that stream. In a light rain it catches enough; in the heaviest hour of a January storm the water arcs past the front edge and lands on the stucco and the walkway.
2. There's an eave riser and a bird stop. The first course sits on a raised strip, often with a metal or foam bird stop closing the gap. Standard hidden hangers hit it. A crew that doesn't know tile either bends the hanger, screws it low and pitches the gutter flat, or drills through the tile — which becomes a leak that shows up two winters later.
3. You can't walk on it. Concrete tile cracks under a boot placed wrong, and a cracked tile isn't a gutter problem; it's one for a roofer. All the work has to be done from the eave.

How gutters should be hung on tile

• Long-reach hidden hangers that clear the riser and bird stop and screw into the rafter tails through the fascia, every 24 inches.
• The gutter set lower and forward, so the front lip sits under the water line off the tile in a heavy rain, not behind it. On steep pitches an apron flashing helps, so water running down the underlayment lands in the gutter instead of behind it.
• First course lifted, not drilled. Where a hanger or an apron needs to go under the tile, the tile should be lifted, the hardware set, and the tile reset. Agree in writing beforehand who replaces any tile that cracks.
• 6-inch on the big roofs. A two-story Empire Ranch home sends a lot of water to each run, and the wider gutter gives the faster-moving water off tile more to land in.

The replacement page covers the rest of the system — gauge, downspouts, extensions — and it's all the same on tile.

Repairs when the gutters are already up

A common complaint on these homes isn't a leak. It's "the gutters are clean and water still pours off the roof in a storm." That's the height problem in point one. The fix is a re-hang: gutter down, new long-reach hangers, gutter reset lower and re-pitched. On a 40-foot run that's typically $300–$550, and it solves what a cleaning and a reseal never will. Drilled-through tiles from earlier crews are common and need replacing, and so are gutters pulled away where a hanger was screwed to the bird stop instead of the rafter.

Cost

Tile adds a small per-foot line to any gutter job — roughly $2–$4 per foot over the standard seamless price on the pricing page — for the hangers, the lifting and resetting, and the slower work from the eave. A two-story tile home in Roseville with 220 feet of 6-inch gutter and six downspouts typically lands at $3,500–$4,800. Cracked-tile replacement is typically $25–$60 per tile — get it approved before it's done.

Guards on tile

Micro-mesh works here too, but it has to sit under the tile lip on a frame that doesn't disturb the first course, and the gutter under it has to be at the right height first. Do both together. See gutter guards for which mesh suits which tree — in Folsom and Rocklin that's mostly valley oak catkins and acorns.

Where the tile is

Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay, Lincoln, the newer sections of Elk Grove and Natomas, and scattered 1980s–90s tile homes in Gold River and Rancho Cordova. The Roseville and Folsom pages describe what's typical there.

What to check on your own house

From the ground, during or right after a rain:

• A line of splash marks or mud on the stucco directly below the front edge. That's water clearing it.
• The gap between the tile lip and the back of the trough. If you can see daylight between them from a ladder, the gutter sits too far back.
• Screw heads or patches on the face of the first course. A drilled tile is a future leak.
• The downspouts on the two-story walls. One small 2x3 outlet carrying a big upper slope is the usual overflow point.
• Inside corners where two slopes meet. A valley on tile dumps a fast stream into one spot.

Step by step: a re-hang on tile

1. The run is measured and the old hangers located from the ladder, never from on top.
2. The first-course tiles over each new hanger position are lifted carefully and propped.
3. The old gutter comes down, and the fascia behind it is probed for rot.
4. Long-reach hangers go in every 24 inches, screwed through the fascia into the rafter tails.
5. The gutter is set lower and forward, pitched toward the outlet, and fastened.
6. The lifted tiles are reset, and any that cracked are replaced as agreed in writing.
7. The run is hose-tested from the top, with someone on the ground watching the front edge.

Questions to ask a contractor about tile

• Have you hung gutters on concrete S-tile and flat tile before, and how do you reach the rafters?
• Will anyone walk on the tile? The answer should be no.
• How will you handle the bird stop and the eave riser?
• Who pays for a tile that cracks, and at what price per tile?
• How will you check that the new gutter sits low enough to catch water in a heavy storm?

Common mistakes on tile

The most common is hanging the new gutter at the same height as the old one, because the old screw holes are already there. The second is drilling through the face of the tile to fasten a guard or a hanger. The third is using standard short hangers bent to clear the riser; they flex in wind, and the gutter slowly rolls forward. All three look fine on a sunny day and only show up in a January storm.

Living with it afterward

Once the gutters are at the right height, the upkeep is ordinary: a cleaning from the eave after the leaf drop, a look at the downspouts after big storms, and a check each fall that no tile along the eave has slipped or cracked. If a tile does crack, call a roofer rather than gluing it, since the tile is part of the roof's water barrier.