Seamless gutters in Bixby

The median Bixby house was built in 2002, and 56 percent of its 11,437 homes have gone up since 2000, 645 of them since 2020. The city's plat list runs from White Hawk Golf Villas in 2001 through Seven Lakes, Legacy, Quail Creek and the Reserve at Addison Creek in 2017, with lots still open in several. The 2020 census counted 28,609 people, up from 20,884 in 2010, and the chamber calls Bixby one of the fastest-growing cities in Oklahoma.

The town grew on river bottom land that early settlers found rich but sometimes swampy, farmed for cotton, wheat and alfalfa and then for vegetables, which earned Bixby the name Garden Spot of Oklahoma, and the river still divides it. In May 2019 the city recommended evacuating every home in the floodplain as Keystone Dam releases passed 215,000 cubic feet per second. Haikey Creek ran six feet deep over roads near 131st Street in May 2007, and Southtown, south of downtown, flooded along Little Snake Creek in May 2022.

The gutter problems Bixby's ground creates

Water with nowhere to go: on flat bottomland a downspout that dumps at the slab leaves the water right there, and OSU Extension's Tulsa-area fact sheet is specific that every downspout drains away from the foundation, since clay-heavy soil absorbs little in the first place. The ASCE guide for homeowners on shrink-swell clay adds 3 inches of fall in the first 5 feet of grade and outlets at least 3 feet from the house. Downspout placement is part of what Jose works out before he gives a price.

Then the calendar: hail reaches any given address here two to three times a year, mostly between mid-April and mid-May, May is also the wettest month at 5.73 inches, and Bixby's 2007, 2019 and 2022 floods all came in May. The Seven Lakes houses run 2,400 to over 4,000 square feet, and on any two-story the upper eaves drain onto the lower ones, which is where 6 inch gutter and 3x4 downspouts come in. Jose Valdez started AquaOut in 2020, works with a crew of three, carries insurance, speaks Spanish and English, and the phone number on this page is his own cell.

• River bottom and creek backwater. Settlers came for what Wikipedia calls the rich, though sometimes swampy, river bottom land, and the Arkansas River still splits the town. In May 2019 the city recommended evacuating every home in the floodplain as Keystone Dam releases climbed to 215,000 cubic feet per second; in May 2022 Southtown flooded along Little Snake Creek; in May 2007 Haikey Creek ran more than six feet deep over roads and parks near 131st Street, and a widening and levee project was meant to take 750 acres out of the floodplain.
• Spring hail and May storms. Hail hits any given metro address two to three times a year by the Weather Service's Tulsa airport record, peaking from mid-April to mid-May, the same window as Bixby's 2007, 2019 and 2022 floods. May is the wettest month at 5.73 inches of a 40.96 inch year.
• Flat, low ground against the slab. The river bottom that earned Bixby the name Garden Spot of Oklahoma was described by its settlers as sometimes swampy, and OSU Extension says clay-heavy soil absorbs little and sheds the rest, so every downspout has to drain away from the foundation. The ASCE shrink-swell guide calls for 3 inches of fall in the first 5 feet and outlets at least 3 feet from the house.

What Jose installs in Bixby

• Seamless gutters Aluminum coil run through the machine at your house, one piece per run, no seams to leak.
• Downspouts Sized and placed so water leaves the house, with elbows and splash blocks where they belong.
• Gutter guards Keeps leaves and shingle grit out so the gutters keep draining through fall.
• Gutter repair Sagging, pulling away, leaking at the corners. Rehung, resealed, re-pitched.
• Gutter cleaning Cleared and flushed, downspouts checked, before the next storm fills them.
• Gutter replacement Old gutters down and hauled off, new seamless runs up the same day.