Your home · 10 guides
Gutters: problems and fixes, explained by Jordan
Jordan Hargrow is the only gutters member of BNI Preston Center. These guides are written for a Dallas–Fort Worth reader who has the problem right now: what is happening, what to check, when to call, and what it costs.
- What new seamless gutters cost in Dallas, and what moves the number Most gutter installations land in a range of a few thousand dollars, but where your house falls depends on footage, height, size, material and the condition of the wood behind the gutter. Here is how each factor works. The short answer on gutter pricingFootage, height and the shape of the roofGutter size and the number of downspoutsMaterial and color: the biggest single choice
- Repair or replace? The signs your gutters have reached the end of their life A drip at one corner and a system that leaks at every seam call for very different fixes. Here is how to read your gutters, the fascia behind them and the ground below, and decide which one you have. The quick way to tell repair from replacementProblems a good repair handles wellSigns the system itself is finishedWhat the age of your gutters tells you
- Hiring a gutter company: the questions that separate a real crew from a guess A gutter estimate looks simple until you compare two of them. These are the questions that show whether a company will size the system to your roof or hang whatever is on the truck. Seven questions that do most of the workIs gutter work what you do all day?How will you size the gutters and place the downspouts?What do you do when the wood behind the gutter is bad?
- Gutter guard myths: what guards really do, and when they are worth it Guards are one of the best upgrades for a house under trees, and one of the most oversold. Here is what they actually do, the myths that lead to disappointment, and how to decide whether they are worth it on your house. Guards cut cleaning, they do not end itMyth: every gutter guard works about the sameMyth: once guards go on, you never look at the gutters againMyth: guards will stop my gutters from overflowing
- From first call to install day: how a seamless gutter job actually runs A seamless gutter job runs in five steps: contact, estimate visit, written recommendation, scheduling and install. Here is what happens at each one, how long it usually takes, and what you can do to make install day go smoothly. The whole job at a glanceStep one: the first call or messageStep two: what the estimate visit coversStep three: reading the written recommendation
- Dallas downpours, clay soil and shade trees: what they demand from your gutters Gutters in North Texas have to handle short, heavy storms, protect a slab sitting on clay that swells and shrinks, and keep up with oaks and pecans. Here is what that means for sizing, downspouts, guards, colors and rain barrels. What North Texas asks of a gutter systemStorms that deliver the rain all at onceClay soil and why discharge distance mattersWhere every downspout should send its water
- Cleaning your own gutters: what is reasonable, and when to put the ladder away Plenty of homeowners can clear a single-story gutter safely. The trouble starts with second stories, steep roofs, power lines and downspouts that stay clogged after the gutter looks clean. The honest answer: sometimes, with limitsWhen doing it yourself makes senseLadder rules worth borrowing from the professionalsHow to clean a gutter properly, start to finish
- After the hail and through the seasons: keeping gutters working for years Gutters take a beating in hail and windstorms, and they quietly lose ground between storms too. Here is what to check after a storm, how to document damage, and the yearly routine that keeps a system working for decades. Two habits that keep gutters workingThe walk-around after hail or high windPhotograph and document before anything is fixedHiring help after a storm without getting burned
- 5-inch, 6-inch or 7-inch gutters: how to tell which size your roof needs Many houses are fine with 5-inch gutters, but long runs, valleys, upper roofs draining onto lower ones and heavy tile roofs often call for 6-inch or 7-inch. Here is how to tell which runs on your house need the extra capacity. The rule of thumb, and where it breaksWhy one extra inch makes such a differenceWhen a 5-inch gutter does the jobSigns a run needs 6-inch
- Water over the gutter edge and pooling at the foundation: what is wrong and how to fix it A sheet of water coming over the gutter in a storm is the house telling you the roof drainage has stopped doing its job. Here is how to find out whether it is a clog, a slope problem or an undersized system, and what a proper fix looks like. What that waterfall off the roofline meansWhy gutters fail on Dallas-area housesA ten-minute inspection you can do from the groundCleaning versus repairing versus replacing: when to stop guessing