Can These Gutters Be Saved?
Some gutters can be patched. Some are past it. Here is how to tell which kind you have.
Most people call us after they see water somewhere it should not be. A drip at the corner, a dirty stripe down the siding, a puddle against the foundation. Then comes the question we answer in driveways every week: new gutters, or can this one be fixed?
The four signs
Four Signs a Patch Will Not Last
If your gutters show any of these, a patch buys you a season at best. The problem is not the leak you can see. It is whatever caused it.
It Leaks at the Joints, in More Than One Place
Sectional gutters are pieced together every ten feet or so, and every joint is somewhere water can escape. Once two or three of them start dripping, the rest are not far behind. Sealing one is a morning of work that does nothing for the other twenty.
The Gutter Is Pulling Away From the House
A gutter that dips in the middle or leans out from the fascia has lost its grip on the wood behind it. New hangers driven into the same worn screw holes will not bite either. This one looks minor from the ground and is usually the most expensive to ignore.
Rust, Cracks or Splits in the Metal
Steel gutters corrode from the inside out, so a brown patch on the outside means the metal underneath is already thin. Cracks and splits work the same way. Putting new material over a section that is failing along its whole length is money spent twice.
Water Is Getting in Behind the Gutter
If the fascia board is soft, dark or rotted, water has been going behind the gutter instead of into it. Nine times out of ten that means nobody fitted gutter apron flashing. A brand new gutter fastened to a rotted board is a brand new gutter fastened to a rotted board.
The other side of it
Three Times a Repair Is the Right Call
We are a replacement company, so you would expect us to say everything needs replacing. It does not. Three fixes are worth doing on their own.
A Couple of Loose Hangers
One stretch has slipped, but the fascia behind it is sound and the rest of the system is straight. That is a fastener job, not a new system.
A Downspout That Came Apart
Elbows work loose, especially where they were never pinned or screwed properly. Downspouts go back together without anyone touching the gutter above them.
One Failed End Cap or Joint
On gutters that are otherwise sound and not far into their life, a single failed point is a single failed point. It does not condemn the whole system.
If that is what you have, we will say so when we look at it. We do not take repair jobs, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
How Our Team Decides in Your Driveway
Three passes, in this order, every time. It takes about fifteen minutes, and you hear the reasoning out loud.
We Look at the Whole System, Not the Leak
The drip you noticed is a symptom. We walk the full perimeter and check every joint, every hanger and every downspout. One bad section next to nineteen good ones is a different job from one bad section next to nineteen tired ones.
We Check What Is Behind the Gutter
Then we look at the fascia and the soffit behind the gutter. Soft wood, dark staining or a gap where the flashing belongs changes the answer, because a gutter is only as good as its board. If the wood needs work, we say so before anything gets quoted.
We Tell You Which One It Is, and Why
You get a straight answer with the reason attached. If your gutters have five more years in them, that is what we will tell you. You have lost nothing but fifteen minutes.
Repairing Twice Costs More Than Replacing Once
Patching is cheaper on the day and dearer over five years. Each visit fixes the joint that failed and leaves the twenty that have not failed yet. A replacement is one price, one time, with a lifetime warranty on the gutters and the workmanship.
What it costs depends on the house. Two homes on the same street can produce a $3,500 quote and a $9,000 quote.
Every reason is something you can point at: the perimeter length, the number of stories, the corners and downspouts, and the material. We wrote the full list out in our guide to how much do new gutters cost.
If the answer turns out to be a full gutter replacement, that page walks through what we fit and what happens on the day.
What We Do, and What We Do Not
Gutters are the only thing we do. We install and replace seamless gutters, we fit gutter guards, and we take care of soffit and fascia when the wood behind the gutter needs it. We do not do roofing, siding or windows.
We also do not take repair work. That is worth saying plainly on a page about repairs.
If a repair is what your house needs, we are not the company for the job. We will tell you so in your driveway, for free.
Common questions
Repair or Replace Questions
The questions homeowners ask us most once they have decided something is wrong.
Do you repair gutters?
No. We install and replace seamless gutters, and we fit gutter guards. If what you have is a one joint repair, we will say so when we look at it.
Can you splice a new piece into my old gutters?
We fit seamless gutters, which means each length is formed on site as one continuous piece with no joints along it. That is the whole point of them, and it is also why we do not splice new material into an old sectional system. You would be adding two more seams to a system whose seams are the problem.
How old do gutters need to be before they should be replaced?
Age on its own does not decide it, condition does. We have seen twenty year old aluminum in better shape than eight year old builder grade steel. What we look at is the metal, the joints and the wood behind them.
Our own gutters are .032 inch aluminum and come with a lifetime warranty, so replacing them again should never come up.
Will new gutters fix water getting behind the gutter?
They will if whoever fits them adds gutter apron flashing, the piece that closes the gap between the gutter and the roof edge. We fit it on every install.
Without it, water follows the shingle edge down the back of the gutter and onto the fascia. That is how the board rotted in the first place.
Do I need to decide before you come out?
Not at all. The estimate is free and there is no obligation attached to it. Plenty of people book one because they want somebody to tell them whether the thing they noticed is a problem.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Ready to Stop Thinking About Your Gutters?
Get a free estimate from Chicago’s top-rated seamless gutter company. No pressure. No obligation. Just a straight answer on what your home needs and what it’ll cost.
or call (866) GUTR-PRO
