Expert guides to gutters, roofing and home drainage
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” »
If you priced a new roof this year and the number made you sit down on the tailgate, you are not imagining things. Verisk, the insurance data company, reported that the average residential roof replacement cost $17,631 in 2025. That figure sits about 33% above the average for 2021 through 2024. Overall roof claims fell … Read More “Roof Replacements Cost a Third More in 2025, Even With Fewer Storm Claims” »
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” »
When a homeowner asks me how old their roof is, my honest answer usually starts with another question. Who gave you the number? Sellers, agents and previous owners tend to round off, and in my experience “about ten years” gets said far more often than it turns out to be true. Paperwork disappears. Warranties end … Read More “How to Find Out How Old Your Roof Is When Nobody Kept the Paperwork” »
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” »
Your roof can still keep the rain out and be worth far less to your insurance company than it costs to replace. That surprises homeowners all the time. A 20-year-old roof could need $20,000 worth of work after a covered storm, yet an actual cash value policy might value that roof at only a fraction … Read More “Your Roofs Might Only Be Worth 20 Percent to Your Insurer” »
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” »
