Why half-round suits a tile roof
Half-round is the older profile, a plain semicircle hung from brackets. On a house with barrel tile or flat clay tile, it matches the curves and the era. K-style bolted to that eave usually looks wrong from the street, and on a home that has kept its original character, the gutter is part of that character.
It sheds debris a little better, too. The rounded bottom has no inside corner for silt and seed to pack into, so a light rain flushes more of it toward the outlet. That's not magic. It's geometry.
The trade-off is capacity. A 6-inch half-round carries less water than a 6-inch K-style, so on a big roof face we size up or add outlets. We'd rather put in an extra drop than swap profiles on a house where the look matters.
Things we'd advise against in Holly Hills
Swapping half-round for K-style to save money on a tile-roof house. It's cheaper up front, and it cheapens how the house reads from the street.
Vinyl gutter of any kind. It turns brittle over a St. Louis winter and cracks the first time a ladder leans on it.
Replacing a whole run of half-round because two brackets failed. Fix the brackets. Same goes for a guard jammed into half-round it wasn't made for: a poor fit lets debris in at the edges and can pull the front of the trough out of round. Our micro-mesh guard page explains what actually fits.
What we handle in Holly Hills
Staying off the tile
Clay tile breaks under a boot. Walk the roof to reach a gutter and you can crack a dozen pieces that then leak for years, and matching old tile is its own headache. So gutter work on these houses happens from ladders and standoffs at the eave, never from the roof.
That changes how long a job takes and how many hands it needs. It's one reason a Holly Hills estimate can run higher than the same footage on an asphalt-shingle ranch. We'll spell out the setup on the estimate instead of burying it.
If we spot broken tile along the eave while we're up there, we'll photograph it and show you. Tile repair is roofing work, and John Beal Roofing can take that up with you separately.
Brackets, joints and hangers that have given up
Half-round rarely fails all at once. A bracket rusts through or pulls out of the fascia, the section it held drops half an inch, water pools in the low spot, and the nearest joint starts weeping. Catch it at the bracket stage and it's a small repair.
We replace failed brackets with new ones fastened into sound wood, reset the pitch on that length, and rework any joint that has opened. Where the bottom of the trough has thinned or pitted, that length gets replaced and matched to what's already there.
Copper half-round turns up on some of these homes. We solder copper joints. Caulk on copper is a patch, and within a season it looks like one.
Big trees, deep lots
Holly Hills streets carry a lot of mature canopy, and many lots run deeper than the tight blocks closer to downtown. More trees means more debris. Pin oaks drop tassels in late spring and acorns into the fall, and in half-round the acorns roll straight to the outlet and jam it. A plugged outlet under a tile roof overflows onto the wall below.
Two cleanings a year is our usual advice under heavy oak. If you'd rather cover the gutter, we'll talk it through, though guards made for half-round are fewer and fussier to fit than the K-style kind. We'll show you the fit before you commit.
Where the round downspouts empty
On many of these homes the downspouts drop into old clay tile lines that vanish into the ground beside the foundation. Some of those lines still carry water away. Plenty have cracked or filled with roots, and whatever they swallow ends up soaking the clay right against the basement wall.
There's an easy test. Run a garden hose into the downspout for a few minutes and watch the bottom. If it backs up at the boot, the line underground is blocked or broken. We can disconnect it, cap the tile, and turn the discharge out onto the lawn, or carry it further in solid pipe. Reopening a hundred-year-old tile line is sometimes possible, and sometimes it's a dig we'd rather not sell you.
Holly Hills gutter questions
Our half-round is steel and rusty at the brackets. Can the trough stay?
If the rust is only where the brackets touch and the bottom of the trough is solid, new brackets can buy years. If it's rusted through along the bottom, that length is done.
Is half-round more expensive than K-style?
Generally yes, in material and in labor, because brackets and round downspouts take longer to hang. How much more depends on length, height and whether it's aluminum or copper. You'll get a written number after we measure.
Do round downspouts drain as well as rectangular ones?
They drain fine when they're sized for the roof above. The bigger issue is usually the elbows, where acorns lodge, so we keep tight bends to a minimum where the wall allows it.
Can gutter work be done on a tile roof without walking on it?
Yes, and that's the only way we do it. Everything happens from ladders at the eave.
Should gutters go on before or after tile roof repairs?
After, in most cases, since anybody working the eave can dent new metal. If the tile work is small and well away from the edge, the order matters less, and we'll coordinate with whoever has the roof.
Neighbors of Holly Hills
Free estimate in Holly Hills
Mention the roof type and whether the gutter is half-round. That tells us what to bring.
The St. Louis gutter company that keeps half-round half-round
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