Taylor Gardner Gutters & Exteriors Can Help Build Your Home’s Value 

The crew at Taylor Gardner Gutters & Exteriors takes the business of cleaning out and/or installing new rain gutters at your home very seriously. (Photos provided by Taylor Gardner)

Your home’s rain gutters may not be high on your list when it comes to home improvement or maintenance. But, Florida is one of the rainiest states in the country with an average rainfall of 40-60 inches per year, so it may be more important than you think.

“If you don’t have gutters, you are risking water damage to your home’s foundation,” says Taylor Gardner, the owner of Taylor Gardner Gutters & Exteriors. “If you have gutters and neglect them, that’s actually more of a disadvantage, as you risk standing water collecting and building up right against your roof.”

Taylor Gardner

Taylor Gardner Gutters & Exteriors is a family-owned business with more than 31 years of experience in installing and repairing residential and commercial gutters. The business was first started in Lutz by Taylor’s father Ed Gardner, and was officially transitioned to Taylor (a Wharton High graduate) in 2019 after Ed passed away. In 2021, the business expanded and the office was moved to U.S. Hwy 41 in Land O’ Lakes.

In addition to working on gutters, Taylor Gardner Gutters also can repair soffits and fascia, which are the supporting structures for gutters located behind the gutters and underneath the roof. The company also performs gutter cleanings and leaf guard installations, screen room installations, and even window replacements. Taylor Gardner Gutters can reroute underground water drainage away from a building’s foundation towards preferred locations, such as private ponds, sidewalks or sewers.

Taylor, a U.S. Marine for nine years who served in Iraq and later earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Business Administration from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, has been involved in the business since childhood. Assisting his dad in his youth, he remembers that the early days of the business consisted of “me and Dad and one truck and one trailer.” Today, Taylor is the leader of five gutter crews and three soffit and fascia crews with 15 employees and 10-15 others in partnership. Improving water drainage around your home can have so many benefits.

“Our customers’ homes can vary from a 30-year-old house in New Tampa to a newly constructed house in Wesley Chapel to a mansion built over swamp land,” says Taylor. “Houses settle over time, causing cracks in walls and stucco, allowing water to move underneath the house. Windows are intentional cracks in the foundation for light and ventilation, but mold and mildew can grow there too. With tiles and wooden floors, spots can pop up as water gets in. Sometimes swamps are drained, clay is put on top and homes are built on top of that, but the water table (the boundary between groundwater and dry land) is already high, and it will move up in crevices.”

He adds, “Sometimes homes already have gutters, but they are neglected and that’s actually a worse situation. Blocked gutters keep standing water against the house, weighing the gutters down with hundreds or even thousands of pounds of water, leaves and debris easily. That can lead to cracked fascia and roof leaks.”

Here are some examples of the types of gutters that can be installed by Taylor Gardner Gutters.

Taylor also says that gutters can even add unexpected aesthetic appeal. Copper gutters can last up to 100 years and add a beautiful shining element to the outside of the home. Half-round gutters were more common in older homes and can add a more traditional look. Rain guards are alternatives to gutters that use long chains to redirect rainfall. With more than 20 different colors to choose from, your gutter color and style can vary from subtle to bold. 

While the company serves locations in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando, and Polk counties, Taylor says, “Hillsborough and Pasco counties are our bread and butter.” In fact, as Hillsborough and Pasco counties continue to grow, Taylor says his business is growing right alongside them.

“We work directly with GL Homes, the builders for The Ridge and Winding Ridge communities in Wesley Chapel,” he says, “and with the new construction by the former Pebble Creek golf course, to install all of the gutters for their properties.”

Taylor recommends spring as the best time to consult a gutter professional, especially for gutter cleaning. Taylor Gardner Gutters offers free gutter estimates. In anticipation of the rainy season from May to October, the company currently is offering a special rate of 15% off leaf guard products, such as Leaf Blaster Pro and Leaf Relief, which can block leaves and debris from entering gutters and creating blockages.

“Gutters are the least expensive upgrade you can do to improve the value of your house,” says Taylor. “It generally costs less than painting your whole home, getting floors done, or getting new landscaping.”

Taylor Gardner Gutters & Exteriors is located at 6202 Land O’Lakes Blvd. The office is open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more info, visit TaylorGardnerGutters.com, call (813) 515-0844, see the ad on pg. 39 or visit the company’s pages on Facebook and Instagram. 

The Wades — Still Creating A Winter Wonderland After All These Years

Tom and Ann Wade’s first Christmas tree was made of chicken wire shaped into a cone, with pinecones hanging as ornaments.

After 53 years of marriage, the Tampa Palms residents’ tree now towers over them, covered with garland and lights and ornaments designed to fill you with the Christmas spirit, but with a modern tech-twist that plays whatever Christmas song you ask it to.

The tree is the centerpiece of one of New Tampa’s most elaborate home-decorated winter wonderlands.

“The ornaments on the tree (are my favorite),” Tom says. “There are pictures of our kids when they were small, anniversary pictures…essentially the history of our family.”

Inside the Wades’ two-story, five-bedroom home is a trip to old-time Christmas, if you’re lucky enough to be a friend or relative (or nosy reporter) and get an invitation past the gateway of outside lights and garland wrapped around two Colonial columns, seasonal music and a striking nativity scene above the door of their residence in the Cambridge subdivision. 

No laser lights and inflatable snowmen for the Wades. The look is traditional, and people still stop when passing by to snap a quick picture.

Christmas may be over as you’re reading this, but you might still able to get a look at the lavish outside decorations. But hurry, because after this year, Tom, who is now 76 years old, says he finally plans to scale back.

“I’m getting kind of old, and I don’t need to be getting up on the roof anymore,” he says, with a chuckle.

The Wades were co-founders of the Rotary Club of New Tampa (our area’s original, morning Rotary) — Ann is the current president, as well — but it is not a misnomer to also call them the first family of Tampa Palms Christmas decorations.

In 1988, Tampa Palms developer Ken Good decided to hold a home-decorating contest to celebrate the Christmas season (and market New Tampa’s growing and largest master-planned community).

It was extravagant, as a huge crowd took part in a celebratory party, with horse-drawn carriages and some of the best decorations in an area not yet called New Tampa.

The Wades were chosen the winners of that contest by a panel of judges and awarded the first place prize — a 35-inch Mitsubishi television, worth roughly $3,000 at the time (or $5,258, adjusted for inflation).

“We didn’t know there even was a prize,” Ann says. “That was a pretty big TV back then.”

The Wades have gone all out for Christmas every year since then, even sponsoring the contest in 1997 with their own money when the original fizzled out.

Their Christmas collection, inside and out, has only grown bigger since they won that first contest. Ann says she recently counted 50 boxes of Christmas decorations, and the job of prepping the house for the holidays takes them four days, mostly with Ann working inside and Tom handling the outside.

“We just love Christmas,” Tom says.

Their dining room looks as if old Saint Nick himself has been invited over for dinner. The meticulously decorated room and table settings for hosting holiday parties with their fellow churchgoers, Rotary Club members and neighborhood friends.

But mostly, they keep doing it for their family. This year, like every year, they hosted their three children — Amy, Nathan and Laura — plus their 10 grandchildren and in-laws. “There’s 18 of us,” Ann says. “It can get wild.”

As usual, Santa showed up while the family slept. Gifts were exchanged, dinner was served Christmas night, and pictures were taken.

Who knows, one of those pictures might just end up hanging from the Christmas tree next year. 

(Photos: Charmaine George)