Roof and Gutters Together in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Why plan the roof and gutters together in Cuyahoga Falls?

Because the roof edge is where most water damage on a house begins, and two trades meet there. The roofer sets the drip edge and the first course. The gutter installer sets the height and slope of the trough. If the two never talk, the drip edge can end up behind the gutter, in front of it by an inch, or pinned under a hanger. Water then runs down the fascia instead of into the gutter.

Guttrz began as a gutter company and does both, so the edge is planned once.

What does drip edge do?

Drip edge is a bent strip of metal along the eaves and rakes. At the eave it tucks under the underlayment, covers the top of the fascia and kicks water out into the gutter. Without it, water clings to the edge of the deck, curls back and soaks the board the gutter hangs from.

A lot of roofs from the 1950s and 1960s went on with no drip edge at all. Every replacement quoted here includes it, on every edge.

What turns up when the old gutters come down?

Usually the fascia. That is the flat board behind the gutter, and on a house that has had overflowing gutters or no drip edge it is often soft along the top. You cannot see it with the gutter in place. With the roof edge open and the gutter off, a rotted length can be cut out and replaced before anything new is fastened to it.

The other common find is the old fastening. Gutters of that age were hung with long spikes driven through the trough into the rafter ends. After decades of ice the spikes back out and the gutter tips forward. New gutters hang on hidden hangers held by screws, not spikes.

What order does the work go in?

1. Old gutters come down if they are being replaced, so the edge is open.
2. The roof is torn off and the deck and fascia are checked.
3. Ice and water shield and drip edge go on at the eaves, then the rest of the roof.
4. New seamless gutters are formed on site from aluminum coil and hung to the finished roof edge, with new downspouts.
5. Gutter guards go on last if you want them, once the gutters are in.

Doing it in that order means nobody leans a ladder on a brand new gutter to shingle the eave, and nobody bends new drip edge to slide an old gutter back under it.

Which Falls houses gain the most from doing both?

1950s ranches and Cape Cods. Original or second-generation gutters on spikes, no drip edge, and long low eaves where ice builds. These are the houses where the edge is most likely to be the real problem.

Shaded lots. Near the Gorge, along the river and on the wooded streets of the north end, gutters fill fast. A clogged gutter holds water against the new roof edge. Guards after the gutters keep that from starting.

Houses with a leak right at the outside wall. A stain where the ceiling meets an exterior wall often traces to the eave, not the field of the roof.

Do you have to replace gutters with the roof?

No. Sound gutters with good slope and firm hangers can stay, and the new drip edge is fitted to them. The inspection photos include the gutters and fascia so you can see their condition for yourself. If they have five good years left, the report says so.

How do you find out what your roof edge needs?

Ask for the free roof inspection in Cuyahoga Falls. The edge, the fascia and the gutters are part of what gets photographed. If the roof is due, the roof replacement overview lists what the job includes, and the roof cost page explains how the roof part is priced. Ice at the eaves is covered in more depth in the article on attic ventilation on Falls Cape Cods.