Expert guides to gutters, roofing and home drainage
Find expert advice on gutter installation, cleaning, repairs, and maintenance. Explore gutter guards, downspouts, drainage solutions, and common problems that can lead to water damage. Our practical guides help homeowners keep gutters working properly and protect their homes from costly repairs.
No. Leafless gutters, meaning gutters fitted with a mesh, hood or screen to keep leaves out, cut cleaning a lot, but they do not end it. I have cleaned plenty of gutters packed solid with wet leaves, and I have installed and worked around guard systems too. The leaves stop falling into the trough, but … Read More “Can Leafless Gutters Keep Your Gutters Clear Without Regular Cleaning?” »
Gutter quotes often carry three words near the bottom, 5-inch K-style seamless, with no explanation attached. K-style gutters are the flat-backed gutters with a front shaped like crown molding, and they are the gutter you see on most suburban houses. For most homes they are a sensible choice, but the shape matters less than the … Read More “What Are K-Style Gutters, and When Should You Choose Them for Your Home?” »
“Why does this gutter keep overflowing when I just cleaned it?” Homeowners ask me some version of that more than almost anything else. My answer starts with a rain jacket, because the best way to read a gutter is to stand under it in a real downpour and watch. A clean gutter that still spills … Read More “The Gutters Are Clean, but Water Still Pours Over the Edge” »
My wife and I can’t drive through a neighborhood after a storm without me pointing at something. “That downspout shouldn’t end there,” I’ll say, and she’ll remind me that nobody asked. She’s right, but the downspout is usually still wrong. It stops a foot from the wall and dumps the roof’s water where the house … Read More “Are Gutter Extensions Worth It? Benefits, Costs and Common Problems” »
The question usually comes while we are standing in the driveway. A homeowner points at the gutter and asks whether those guards from TV ads are worth it. Before answering, I look past the gutter and up into whatever hangs over the roof. A white pine, a red oak and a silver maple each fill … Read More “Are Gutter Guards Worth It? It Depends on the Trees Over Your Roof” »
A week after the Fourth of July a couple of summers ago, I was cleaning gutters on a house under a pair of tall pines. Halfway along the back run, my glove came up with needles that were black on top and crumbly underneath. A neighbor had been setting off fireworks, and one spark had … Read More “Wildfire Embers Can Travel a Mile and Land in Your Gutters” »
A few years back, my wife and I spent a long weekend in Washington, D.C. Outside the National Cathedral, she was admiring the carved stone while I was staring at a creature hanging off the wall with its mouth wide open. I told her it was a downspout. She gets slightly annoyed when I’m being … Read More “A Gargoyle Is Really a Downspout With a Face, and Your Gutters Still Do Its Job” »
Gutter cleaning looks like one of the easiest fall jobs around a house. Pull out the leaves, flush the downspout, and put the ladder away. The gutter isn’t what worries me. The ladder does. A homeowner standing 10 or 15 feet above a driveway, reaching sideways into wet debris, has turned a basic maintenance job … Read More “Every Fall, Gutter Cleaning Sends Homeowners to the ER” »
