Gutters and Gutter GuardsBased in Cleburne, TX

The Difference

What to know before you decide.

How a gutter is hung matters as much as its size. It needs a slight fall toward the downspout, about a quarter inch for every 10 feet, or water sits in the trough and grows algae. Hidden hangers screwed into the fascia every couple of feet hold up better than the old spikes and ferrules, which work loose as aluminum expands in August heat and contracts on a cold January night. Downspouts should empty onto a splash block or into an extension that carries water several feet from the house.

Hail dents gutters and downspouts long before it cracks a shingle, and insurance adjusters look at those dents when they judge the size of the hail that hit a property. If a storm has come through, a dented gutter is a reason to have the whole roof looked at. When a claim covers the roof, gutter damage from the same storm is often part of it, and we help with the claim process from the inspection onward.

Gutter guards earn their cost under trees. Live oaks shed their leaves in spring instead of fall, pecans drop catkins and husks, and cedar elms add a layer of small leaves on top. Screens with larger openings stop leaves and let pine needles and seed pods through. Micro-mesh guards stop almost everything, including the shingle granules that wash off every roof, but a fine mesh can hold a layer of pollen on top that needs brushing off now and then. No guard makes a gutter maintenance-free. A good one turns a twice-a-year cleaning into an occasional check.

Unguarded gutters in North Texas usually want cleaning twice a year, once in late spring after the oaks finish and again in late fall. The signs that a cleaning is overdue are easy to spot from the yard: water spilling over the front edge in a storm, stripes of dirt on the outside of the gutter, peeling paint or soft wood on the fascia behind it, and a gutter that sags between hangers. A leaking corner or a loose section can usually be resealed or rehung. Replacement makes more sense when several joints leak, the fascia behind the gutter has rotted, or hail has dented most of the runs.

For budgeting, installed aluminum gutters in the Fort Worth area commonly run somewhere between $8 and $15 per linear foot depending on size and color, and gutter guards typically add $5 to $15 per foot depending on the type. If a roof replacement is on the calendar, it is a sensible time to deal with gutters too, since the drip edge and the gutter line are worked on together. Call (817) 558-6997 for a free estimate and we will measure the runs with you.