Roof and Gutter Replacement in Louisville, Ohio
The bottom foot of a roof is where most water damage starts, and it is the one place a roofer and a gutter installer both work. In Louisville, Ohio, you can have the roof, the roof edge and the gutters done by one company in the same week.
Quick facts
- What is included
- The full roof scope, a fascia check, new drip edge lapped into the gutter, seamless aluminum gutters and downspouts, and haul-away of the old ones.
- Typical time
- Roof first, gutters right behind it, inside the same week when weather allows.
- Permits
- Reroofing inside Louisville takes a city building permit. Gutters do not appear on the city's permit sheet.
- How pricing works
- One written quote covers both. The roof is priced flat and the gutters by the linear foot. Good for a year.
Why do the roof and gutters belong in the same job?
Think of the roof edge as one assembly with four parts: the edge of the decking, the fascia board nailed across the rafter ends, the metal drip edge over both, and the gutter hung on the fascia. Water leaving the shingles has to cross all four. If the drip edge stops short of the gutter, water runs down the fascia behind it. If the fascia is soft, the gutter pulls loose. If the gutter is pitched wrong, water sits against the wood all winter.
During a roof replacement the first three parts are already exposed. Doing the fourth at the same time means the whole edge is rebuilt in the right order by people working from the same plan.
What happens at the roof edge during a tear-off?
When the old shingles and underlayment come off, the top of the fascia and the first few inches of decking can be seen for the first time in decades. This is where rot hides, because ice dams and overflowing gutters have been wetting that strip for years. Bad wood is cut out and replaced. Then the edge is rebuilt:
- Ice and water membrane goes down along the eave and laps over the top of the fascia.
- New drip edge is nailed over it, with its lower lip reaching into where the gutter will sit.
- Starter strip and the first course of shingles overhang the drip edge by a small, even margin.
Many older roofs were shingled with no drip edge at all. Adding it is part of every replacement, as the list on the Louisville roof replacement page shows.
Why are gutters on Louisville's ranch houses often due?
Close to half of the homes in Louisville were built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s by census estimate. Gutters from those decades were typically hung with long spikes driven through the front lip into the rafter ends. Over the years the spikes work loose, the gutter tips forward and the back edge drops below the drip line. Sectional gutters from that era also leak at every seam.
If the gutters on your house are in that state, re-hanging them under a brand new roof is money spent twice. If they were replaced with seamless aluminum in the last ten or fifteen years and still sit tight, they stay. More on those houses: roofing on Louisville's mid-century ranch streets.
What is the order of work in a roof and gutter week?
- Old gutters down. Gutters that are being replaced come off first, so the tear-off has a clean edge.
- Tear-off and deck repair. Shingles, underlayment and any bad decking or fascia.
- New roof. Membrane, underlayment, drip edge, shingles, flashing and ridge vent.
- New gutters. Seamless aluminum gutter is formed on site to the length of each run, in 5-inch or 6-inch K-style, and hung with new downspouts.
- Guards, if you want them. They go on last, after the new gutters.
- Cleanup. Old metal hauled away, the yard swept with a magnet, and photos of the finished edge.
What if my gutters are still good?
Then they are kept. They are protected during the tear-off, the new drip edge is slipped into them, and they are flushed afterward, because a new roof sheds loose granules for its first few rains. The inspection report tells you which way your gutters lean, with photos of the hangers and seams, so the choice is yours.
Do gutter guards go on at the same time?
They can. The guard used is a stainless steel micro-mesh that fastens to the fascia and the front lip of the gutter. Nothing slides under the new shingles, so the roof is not disturbed. Guards are optional and priced separately on the same quote.
Why one company for both?
One schedule, one quote and one name on the workmanship. When a roofer and a gutter installer work weeks apart, each can blame the other for a leak at the edge. Here there is nobody else to point at. The roof replacement cost page explains how the roof side of the quote is built, and the shingles page covers what goes on above the edge.
Roof and gutter questions from Louisville homeowners
Do new gutters go up before the roof or after it?
After. The drip edge has to go on with the roof and lap into the gutter, so new gutters are hung once the shingles are finished. Old gutters that are being replaced come down before the tear-off starts.
Do I need 5-inch or 6-inch gutters?
It depends on how much roof drains into each run. Long valleys, steep slopes and big upper roofs that empty onto lower ones call for the larger size. The owner measures the runs during the roof inspection and writes the size on the quote.
Can I have the gutters done without a new roof?
Yes. Calls from this site go to Guttrz, which also installs gutters and guards on their own. Say so when you call and the visit will be set up for gutters only.
Roof and gutters both showing their age?
Have them looked at together. One visit from the owner covers the shingles, the edge and every gutter run.