Gutters, Soffit & Fascia in Springfield, MO

Gutters do the least glamorous job on a house and cause the most expensive damage when they stop doing it. Water that overflows a blocked gutter runs down the wall, saturates the ground against the foundation, gets into the crawlspace, and rots the fascia board it just ran behind. Springfield soil holds water, and a house with failed gutters shows it in the basement long before it shows it on the roof.

Why gutters matter more after April

Soft aluminium dents at a smaller hail size than a shingle bruises, which is why the top surface of your gutters and the gutter apron are usually the first thing an adjuster looks at. That works in your favour on the claim and it also means the gutters themselves are damaged. Insurers routinely pay for gutter and downspout replacement in the same scope as the roof, and it is one of the line items most commonly left off an initial estimate. If yours was, that is a supplement, and it is a normal one to raise.

Do it while the roof is off, too. New gutters go on after the drip edge and the starter course, so if you replace them separately in six months somebody is taking the new gutters back down.

What we install

Seamless aluminium, 5 inch and 6 inch

Run on site from a coil so there are no joints along the length, which removes the leak point that sectional gutter has every ten feet. 5 inch K-style is standard on most Springfield houses. 6 inch is worth it on a large or steep roof, or where a long slope dumps into a short run, because it carries about forty percent more water and takes a 3 by 4 inch downspout instead of the standard 2 by 3.

Half-round and copper

Right on older and period houses where K-style looks wrong. Copper on the streets around Drury and in Rountree where the house deserves it.

Downspouts and where the water actually goes

Sizing the downspouts to the roof area matters more than most people think, and so does where they discharge. A downspout emptying two feet from the foundation is a foundation problem being manufactured on purpose. Extensions, splash blocks or a buried drain line to daylight, depending on the lot.

Gutter guards, with a caveat

We install them and we will tell you straight that no guard is maintenance-free, whatever the advertising says. Micro-mesh is genuinely good and keeps out everything down to shingle grit. Reverse-curve works until it does not. Foam inserts fill with debris and become a wick. If you have oaks, sycamores or sweetgum over the house, which is most of central Springfield, a good mesh guard is worth it. It reduces cleaning from three times a year to once.

Soffit and fascia, and why they get done at the same time

The fascia is the board the gutter hangs on. The soffit is the underside panel between the wall and the roof edge. You cannot properly replace one without exposing the other, and once the old gutter is off, whatever the fascia has been hiding is visible.

• Rotted fascia from years of gutter overflow. Extremely common on houses where the gutters have been blocked for a couple of seasons, and it is a carpentry job before it is a gutter job.
• Blocked or painted-over soffit vents. This is the quiet reason a lot of Springfield attics run hot. Insulation stuffed into the eave, or six coats of paint across a perforated panel, and your ridge vent has nothing to draw from. More on the ventilation page.
• Wasp nests, squirrels and birds in the eave. Open soffit is an invitation and it is usually discovered rather than reported.
• Aluminium wrap over rotten wood. Somebody covered the problem instead of fixing it. It looks fine and it is soft to a screwdriver.

How often gutters actually need clearing in Springfield

Twice a year is the standard advice and it is roughly right for an open lot. Under mature trees, which is most of the older neighbourhoods here, make it three: late spring after the maples and sycamores drop their seed, mid autumn, and again in late autumn once the oaks have finally finished. Oaks hold their leaves stubbornly and drop them after everyone has already cleaned.

Signs you have left it too long: water sheeting over the front edge in a downpour, plants growing in the gutter, a sagging section, staining down the siding below a joint, or ice building along the gutter line in January.

Questions about gutters, soffit & fascia

Will insurance pay for my dented gutters?

Usually, when the roof is being paid for, because the same hail did both. It is one of the most commonly omitted line items on a first estimate, so check for it. If it is missing it goes in as a supplement with photographs.

Are gutter guards worth the money?

Under trees, yes, and micro-mesh is the type worth having. On an open lot with no overhang, probably not, and cleaning twice a year is cheaper. Nobody makes a maintenance-free gutter guard, whatever the ad said.

5 inch or 6 inch?

5 inch handles most Springfield houses. Go to 6 inch if you have a large roof area draining into a short run, a steep pitch that throws water hard, or a history of overflow at one particular corner. It carries about forty percent more.

My fascia is rotten. Is that a gutter job or a carpentry job?

Both, and it has to be done in that order. We replace the rotten board, then hang the new gutter on something that will hold it. Hanging new gutter on soft fascia is money thrown away.

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Related work we do

• Roof Replacement & Tear-Off
• Roof Ventilation & Underlayment
• Storm & Hail Damage Roof Repair
• Roof Maintenance & Coatings

Or start at the Springfield roofing contractors homepage if you are still working out what you need.