Gutters, downspouts, soffit and fascia
Gutter Cleaning
Gutters cleared and flushed, downspouts repaired, guards installed, and the soffit and fascia behind them patched.
Chapter 01
What a packed gutter does to a house
Maple and oak do most of the damage in Central Ohio. Their leaves come down in a few weeks in late October and November, wash into the trough, and mat into a wet plug that sits over the downspout outlet. The photo on this page shows exactly that: a roof-edge run filled with leaves, with the water nowhere to go.
When the trough is full, rain spills over the front lip and runs down the fascia and the siding. Then winter does the rest. Standing water freezes, the ice swells the gutter off its hangers, and the freeze-thaw cycle that Columbus gets all season turns a clogged gutter into an ice dam at the eave. The slow leak shows up later as a wet basement wall or a stained soffit.
Roof-edge gutter packed with leaves and debris along the trough
Clean it, flush it, then check where the water leaves
Gutter Cleaning starts by scooping the debris out by hand along the whole run, then flushing the trough with a hose to find sags, loose hangers and open seams. Water should run to the downspout without pooling. If it stands in the middle of a run, the pitch has settled and the hangers need resetting.
The downspout is the next check. A downspout that is crushed, pulled from its bracket or clogged at the elbow sends water straight onto the foundation, so downspout repair means reseating the sections, re-securing the straps and making sure the discharge lands on a splash block that carries water away from the house, not toward it.
Chapter 03
Guards, soffit and fascia
If the same gutters fill every autumn, gutter guard installation cuts down how often a ladder has to come out. Guards do not make a gutter maintenance free, since fine debris and shingle grit still collect, but they keep the heavy leaf load out of the trough.
Years of overflow also rot what sits behind the gutter. Soft or stained fascia boards and peeling soffit panels get cut back to sound wood, replaced and painted, so the new gutter hangs on something solid. Call or text with a photo of the roof edge and the job gets a free estimate.
One-year workmanship warranty on all work. Call or text 380-283-9950.
Fall slip, Central Ohio
The gutter run, ticked off in order
- After the last maple and oak leaves are down, clear every run by hand
- Flush with a hose and watch the water reach each downspout
- Reseat loose hangers and re-seal any open seam at a corner
- Check each downspout elbow and splash block, and aim the water away from the foundation
- Look at the fascia and soffit under the eave for soft wood or stains
- Do it before the first hard freeze, when ice can lock a clog in place