Gutter Guard Installation in Madison, WI

Most roof leaks start at the flashing, not the shingles. Step flashing pulls away from a sidewall, the rubber collar on a pipe boot cracks, or an overflowing gutter lets ice back up under the first course. Water also travels along the deck before it shows on a ceiling, so we trace it to the real entry point first. Then we repair what failed with matching materials, so the fix ties into the roof around it.

We walk the whole roof, then go into the attic below it. Up top we look for granule loss, creased or lifted shingles, cracked sealant around vents and soft spots in the deck underfoot. Inside, we check for daylight at the nail line, dark stains on the sheathing and rusted nail tips, all signs of trapped moisture. With around 36 inches of snow a year, the eaves get a close look too, since that is where meltwater refreezes.

A replacement starts with a full tear-off to the deck. The median home here was built in 1979, so the sheathing underneath has had decades of attic heat and moisture; we walk every sheet and replace any that flex or show rot. Then comes ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys, synthetic underlayment over the rest, new drip edge and new flashing throughout. Reusing old flashing under new shingles is where many replacements go wrong.

New roofing on an addition, garage or new build gets the same layered system as a replacement, minus the tear-off. Architectural shingles go down hand-nailed on the manufacturer's nail line, since high nailing is a common cause of blow-offs. For metal, we run standing seam steel panels on concealed clips so the panels can expand and contract without working fasteners loose. Flat sections get a fully adhered membrane. At the eaves, drip edge is set to shed water squarely into the gutter.

We start on the ladder, not the driveway. We check the lowest shingle courses, the drip edge, the fascia board and every gutter hanger, because a guard is only as good as the edge it sits on. Soft fascia, loose spikes and gutters pitched the wrong way all show up here. We photograph what we find, so you see the same roof edge we saw.

The estimate lists every run of gutter by length, the guard we recommend and any repair the inspection turned up, each on its own line. For most homes that means stainless micro-mesh on an aluminum frame, screwed to the gutter lip. Snap-in plastic screens go on faster, but they warp and pop loose under about 36 inches of snow a year. If a gutter is too far gone to carry a guard, the estimate says so.

Old guards come off first, along with whatever is packed underneath them: shingle grit, maple seeds, roofing nails from past repairs. We pull failing spike-and-ferrule hangers and replace them with hidden hangers screwed into the rafter tails. Seams that drip get scraped to bare aluminum and resealed. Downspouts are flushed and checked at the elbows, where most clogs actually sit.

Years of overflow leave their mark at the eave. With the median home in Madison built in 1979, plenty of the roofs we open up have edge decking that has gone soft or delaminated. We cut damaged plywood or plank back to sound wood, sister any rotted rafter tail, and replace bad fascia with primed lumber or wrap it in aluminum coil. A guard screwed into punky wood simply pulls out.

Before any guard goes on, the eave has to shed water on its own. We lay self-adhering ice-and-water membrane along the edge and over the repaired decking, then set new drip edge so it laps into the gutter instead of behind it. Water running behind a gutter rots fascia and streaks siding. That is the leak most homeowners blame on the guard, and it is really a flashing problem.

Here the roofing and the guard become one system. We reset or replace the lowest shingle courses, seal the tabs down so wind cannot lift them, and slide the guard's back edge under the shingle rather than nailing through it. A nail through the roof field is a leak waiting to happen. The front edge screws to the gutter lip, and every hanger gets a final tightening.

We run a hose down every valley and inside corner, because that is where heavy water overshoots a guard or pools behind it. Downspouts should run full and clear. We check gutter pitch with a level, confirm every screw is seated, and look at the flashing where a gutter meets a wall. Anything we are not happy with gets fixed before the ladder comes down.

Old gutter sections, bent hangers, cut mesh and shingle scraps go into our trailer, not your recycling bin. We run a magnetic sweeper over the lawn, beds and driveway for stray nails and screws, then rinse grit off the siding and windows below the eave. Last, we walk the property with you, show you what was repaired and point out anything worth keeping an eye on.