About Us
I’m Mike Carter, the person behind Gutter N Roof.
I’ve spent most of my working life in residential construction, with roofing and gutters becoming the part of the job I know best.
Over the years, I’ve worked on asphalt shingle roofs, metal roofs, low-slope systems, tile, flashing, roof valleys, ventilation, fascia, soffits, gutters, downspouts and plenty of leaks that were much harder to find than they first appeared.
Sometimes people even call me to inspect the roof of the house they plan to buy, so that they don’t get surprises when they move in.
I didn’t get into this line of work because I had some grand plan to become a roofing expert. I liked working with my hands, I was comfortable on a job site and I preferred solving an actual problem to sitting behind a desk talking about one.
One roofing job became another. Then another.
Eventually I reached the point where I could look at a water stain, gutter problem or odd section of flashing and have a pretty good idea where I wanted to start looking.
That only comes from doing the work.
Why I Started Gutter N Roof
Homeowners ask a lot of good questions about their roofs.
Unfortunately, they don’t always get good answers.
I’ve heard everything from:
“Do I really need a whole new roof?”
to:
“Why does this one section of gutter overflow every time it rains?”
Some questions have simple answers. Others depend on the age of the roof, material, slope, drainage, previous repairs, weather exposure and how well the original installation was done.
What I’ve noticed is that the answer is often explained in a way that makes the homeowner more confused than when they asked the question.
That’s what I want to avoid here.
Gutter N Roof is my place to explain roofing and gutters the same way I would explain them to someone standing with me in their driveway.
No sales pitch. No pile of technical terms when ordinary words will do.
If I need to use a roofing term, I’ll explain what it means.
Roofs and Gutters Belong in the Same Conversation
People sometimes treat roofing and gutters as completely separate subjects. I’ve never really looked at them that way.
A roof has to move water off the house.
The gutters then have to collect that water and get it somewhere it isn’t going to cause trouble.
You can have a perfectly decent roof and still end up with rotten fascia, water against the foundation or overflow around an entrance because the gutter system wasn’t properly planned.
I’ve worked with different gutter materials, profiles, sizes and downspout layouts, and one lesson becomes clear pretty quickly: there isn’t one gutter setup that works equally well on every house.
Roof area matters. Pitch matters. Valleys matter. Where the water concentrates matters.
Those are the details I’ll try to make easier to understand here.
What You’ll Find on Gutter N Roof
Most of what I write comes back to one question:
What would I want a homeowner to know before making a decision about this?
That includes subjects such as:
- Roof maintenance
- Roof repair and replacement
- Asphalt shingles
- Metal roofing
- Flat and low-slope roofs
- Roof styles and structures
- Roof leaks
- Flashing
- Valleys and roof penetrations
- Roof ventilation
- Fascia and soffits
- Storm and wind damage
- Roof inspections
- Gutter cleaning
- Gutter installation
- Gutter sizing
- Downspouts
- Gutter guards
- Drainage problems
- Common installation mistakes
- Roofing and gutter costs
- Working safely around roofs and ladders
- Questions homeowners may encounter when dealing with roof insurance claims
When a subject goes beyond what somebody should reasonably answer from trade experience alone, I research it.
Insurance rules, building codes, product requirements, injury statistics and similar subjects can change. When those details matter, I want the information here to be based on something stronger than “I’ve been doing this a long time.”
I Don’t Think Everything Needs Replacing
Working in the trades can make you skeptical of two kinds of advice.
The first is, “Just patch it.”
The second is, “Replace the whole thing.”
Sometimes the patch really is enough.
Sometimes replacement really is the smarter choice.
The important part is understanding why.
I’ve told homeowners that a repair is all they need. I’ve also seen repairs stacked on top of repairs until fixing the original problem would have been cheaper.
My approach on this site is the same.
I’ll explain what I would check, what would concern me, what probably wouldn’t and what could change the answer.
You can make your own decision from there.
A Little About Me Away From Work
I’m still bad at ignoring roofs when I’m not working.
My wife has caught me looking at gutters while we’re driving through a neighborhood more times than I can count.
I’ll point out a strange downspout location or bad-looking section around a chimney.
She’ll remind me that we don’t live there.
Fair point.
Outside work, I’m pretty simple. I like coffee, grilling, spending time in the garage and tackling small projects around the house. I also keep far too many leftover screws, brackets and pieces of lumber because I’m convinced I’ll eventually need them.
Every contractor probably has some version of that pile.
Gutter N Roof grew out of the same practical side of me. I like knowing why something isn’t working, fixing it properly and explaining the problem without making it sound more complicated than it is.
If you have a question, suggestion or topic you think I should cover, you can get in touch with Gutter N Roof.