Quad or half-round?
| Quad | Half-round | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Flat back, D-shaped front | Open semicircle |
| Lysaght sizes | 115 Hi-Front, 115 Lo-Front, 125 and 150 Hi-Front | From 150 to 400 |
| How it's fixed | Flat back sits against the fascia | Hangs in brackets, often a little out from the fascia |
| Looks right on | Brick veneer, rendered and most newer homes | Victorian, Federation and other period homes |
| Usual downpipes | Rectangular | Round |
Other shapes you'll hear about
Ogee gutters have a scalloped front. Lysaght describes its ogee as suited to heritage homes, with a high front that hides the edge of the roof sheeting. Square-line gutters have a flat, square face and a crisp modern look.
Names vary between manufacturers, so the same basic shape can go by several. Ask for the manufacturer's profile name and size on the quote, so you can compare like with like.
Hi-front, lo-front and overflow
Lysaght sells its quad in Hi-Front and Lo-Front versions, slotted or unslotted. A high front looks tidy from the street, but when it overflows, the water can go over the back towards the fascia and eaves instead of onto the garden.
That's why overflow matters. The NCC (the national building code) requires overflow measures on eaves gutters, such as a slotted front face, a controlled gap at the back, or a front bead set below the top of the fascia. Ask which one your quote includes.
Size matters as much as shape
Under the NCC, a 115 mm D-shaped gutter needs at least 5,200 square millimetres of cross-section, a 125 mm gutter 6,300 and a 150 mm gutter 9,000. Gutters are sized for a short, intense burst of rain at your location.
So if your gutters overflow in heavy rain even when clean, a larger profile or more downpipes may fix it better than a straight swap. Ask the roofer how they've sized the new gutter for your roof.
Changing profile on a period home
Swapping half-round for quad on an old house can look wrong, and in heritage areas it may not be your call alone. Albert Park, Fitzroy, Carlton, Parkville and East Melbourne have strict heritage overlays, and in parts of Ballarat heritage controls limit works to the outside of some homes. Check with your council before changing profile or material.
If the originals are copper or cast iron, they may be worth keeping. The NSW Government's heritage maintenance schedule gives both a life expectancy of 70+ years, against 10+ for steel.
What you can work out yourself
You can
- Look at the end of a gutter run to see which profile you have
- Note where the gutters overflow in heavy rain, and photograph it from the ground
- Check your council's planning map for a heritage overlay
Leave to a roofer
- Measuring the roof and sizing the new gutter
- Changing profiles, which can mean new brackets or fascia work
- Matching half-round and ogee profiles on period homes
What we'd pick
We'd stick with the profile that suits the age of the house: half-round or ogee on a Victorian or Federation home, quad or square-line on most homes built since. The exception is size. If the gutters overflow when they're clean, we'd go up a size or add downpipes, whatever the shape.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.