Gutter services

Signs your gutters need attention

• Water sheets over the front edge in heavy rain, even when they are clear.
• Staining or erosion in the ground directly below a run.
• Damp in the basement or at the base of a wall after storms.
• Sagging between hangers, or a run that has pulled away from the fascia.
• Separated or leaking seams and end caps.
• Rotten fascia behind the gutter, which is usually a sign of long-term overflow.
• Ice damming at the eaves in winter, which is a ventilation and insulation problem as much as a gutter one.
• Downspouts discharging within a few feet of the foundation.

What a professional should establish

• The drainage area each run serves, which is the roof area feeding it, adjusted for pitch.
• Local rainfall intensity, the design storm your area is sized against.
• Gutter profile and size, because K-style and half-round differ materially at the same nominal size.
• Downspout number, size and placement. This is the most common actual constraint.
• Slope of the run toward the outlets.
• Hanger spacing and fixing, which decides whether it sags.
• Where the water goes after the downspout, which is a foundation question, not a gutter one.
• The condition of the fascia behind the existing gutter.

What a replacement involves

1. 01

   Measure and size

   Drainage area per run against local rainfall intensity, then profile, size and downspout count.

2. 02

   Remove the old run

   And inspect the fascia behind it. Rot here is common and is a separate repair.

3. 03

   Repair the fascia

   Before anything new is hung. Fixing a new gutter to soft fascia guarantees a return visit.

4. 04

   Form and hang

   Seamless runs are formed on site. Hangers at the specified spacing, with the run sloped toward the outlets.

5. 05

   Fit downspouts and outlets

   Number and placement matter more than most homeowners expect, and are the usual cause of overflow.

6. 06

   Discharge away from the house

   Extensions, splash blocks or a drain. Water delivered to the foundation is a foundation problem you paid to create.

7. 07

   Test it

   With a hose at the top of each run, checking for ponding, leaks and correct fall.

Profiles and materials

Two separate choices: the shape decides capacity, the material decides longevity and price.

What moves the price

Gutters are priced by the linear foot plus the downspouts, with the usual access variables on top.

HyreRoof publishes no national average price for this work. Regional labour, disposal and material rates move it far enough that a single figure would mislead.

What to ask before you sign

• What drainage area is each run serving, and what rainfall intensity did you size against?
• What profile and size are you proposing, and why that one?
• How many downspouts, and where will they discharge?
• Is the fascia sound, and what is your rate if it needs repair?
• Seamless or sectional, and where will the joints be?
• What hanger spacing, and how are they fixed?
• Where does the water go once it leaves the downspout?
• What warranty covers the workmanship, and what covers the material?

The full ten-point checklist is on choosing a roofer.

What to have ready

• Notes on which runs overflow, and whether it happens only in heavy rain.
• Photographs during a storm if you can take them safely from inside.
• Whether the basement or foundation shows damp after rain.
• Whether the roof is also due work, since doing both together saves on access.

Where this goes wrong

Common questions

What size gutters do I need?

It depends on the roof area feeding each run and your local rainfall intensity, matched against the gutter profile and the number of downspouts. A 6-inch K-style carries roughly 1.9 times what a 5-inch does. Half-round carries less than K-style at the same nominal size. Our gutter calculator works it against the published IPC tables.

Why do my gutters overflow when they are clean?

Usually because they are undersized for the roof area, or under-drained: too few downspouts, or downspouts too small or badly placed. Cleaning more often will not fix either. Work out the required capacity before buying more gutter.

Should I replace gutters at the same time as the roof?

Often it makes sense, because the access is already paid for and the drip edge detail is being reworked anyway. It is also the point at which fascia damage behind the old gutter becomes visible and cheap to address.

Are gutter guards worth it?

They reduce how often you clean rather than eliminating it, and performance varies widely by type and by what falls on your roof. Some designs reduce capacity, which matters if the run is already marginal. They are a maintenance decision, not a capacity one.

How long do gutters last?

It depends on material, fixing and exposure, and the failure is usually at seams, hangers or the fascia behind rather than in the gutter itself. Aluminium is the common default. Steel is stronger under ladders and ice. Copper lasts longest and costs the most.

Do gutters cause ice dams?

No. Ice dams are caused by heat escaping into the attic, melting snow on the upper roof, which then refreezes at the cold eave. Gutters can fill with that ice and be damaged by it, but replacing them does not address the cause, which is attic insulation and ventilation.

Sources

• Storm drainage, roof drains and gutter sizing (IPC Chapter 11), International Code Council. Checked September 18, 2026.
• Roofing technical resources and installation standards, National Roofing Contractors Association. Checked September 18, 2026.