Why the roof edge matters more than people think
Eavestroughs look like the least interesting part of a house right up until they stop working. Their whole job is to take the water coming off a roof — which is a lot, on any decent rainfall — and move it away from the building. When they can't, three things follow:
- Water at the foundation. Overflowing or disconnected downspouts dump directly beside the house. That's how you end up with a wet basement and settling problems that cost far more than eavestroughs ever would.
- Rotted fascia and soffit. A trough that overflows at the back edge soaks the wood it's fastened to. Eventually the fasteners have nothing solid to hold.
- Worse ice damming. A trough packed with wet leaves freezes into a solid block, water backs up under the shingles at the eaves, and you get a stain on a bedroom ceiling in February.
What we install
We run seamless aluminum eavestrough, formed on site to the length of your roof edge so there are no joints along a run to work loose and drip. Five-inch is standard on most homes; six-inch is worth it on a big roof, a steep one, or anywhere the existing troughs regularly overflow in a heavy rain.
- Hidden hangers screwed into solid wood, rather than the old spike-and-ferrule system that works itself loose.
- Downspouts sized and placed for the roof area feeding them, and extended far enough from the foundation to actually help.
- Proper slope to the outlets, so the trough drains instead of holding standing water.
- Fascia and soffit repaired or replaced where the old trough has been leaking into it, and soffit venting kept clear so the attic can still breathe.
Gutter guards: what they do and what they don't
Guards are covers over the trough that let water in and keep debris out. On a house with mature trees they're the difference between cleaning your eavestroughs twice a year and barely thinking about them.
What they will do: keep leaves, twigs and roof grit out of the trough, so it drains and doesn't freeze solid. What they won't do: make a badly sloped or undersized trough work, and no guard on the market is genuinely maintenance-free forever — fine grit and seed pods still need an occasional look. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
Justin will tell you honestly whether guards make sense on your house. Under a big silver maple, almost always. On an open lot with no overhanging trees, often not worth it.
What drives the price
Linear footage
The main driver — how many feet of roof edge there is to run.
Single or two storey
Height changes the setup, the ladder work and the time, on the same number of feet.
Number of downspouts and where they go
More outlets and longer runs to get water away from the house add material and labour.
Condition of the fascia behind
If the wood the trough fastens to has rotted, it has to be repaired first — there's nothing to hang new eavestrough on otherwise.
Guards, and which type
Priced by the foot on top of the trough, and they vary a lot by style.
Doing eavestroughs at the same time as a roof replacement is generally the cheapest way to get both — the crew, the ladders and the staging are already there, and the drip edge and trough get detailed together instead of one being worked around the other.
