Gutters are part of the roof system
Most homeowners think of gutters as the trim that catches water. What they actually are is the second-most-important part of your roof’s water-management system. A perfect roof with bad gutters will eventually rot your fascia, damage your foundation, and erode your landscaping. We see foundations cracked from chronic water pooling, basements with persistent moisture, and entire fascia boards replaced after years of overflow — almost always traceable to a gutter system that was sized wrong, pitched wrong, or installed wrong from day one.
We install gutters the way the roof manufacturers actually want them installed:
- Seamless aluminum or copper, custom-formed on site
- Hidden hangers spaced every 24 inches (not the 36 inches some contractors use)
- Proper pitch — about 1/4 inch per 10 feet — toward downspouts
- Downspouts sized for actual roof area drained, not just “one at each end”
- Extensions away from the foundation — water 6 feet from the wall, not 6 inches
Materials
Seamless aluminum (most common)
K-style profile, 5-inch or 6-inch, formed continuously on a portable machine in our truck. We pull off the right length for each run with zero seams except at corners and downspouts — which is where seams want to fail. A 30-year roof should be paired with a gutter system that lasts at least 25-30 years; quality seamless aluminum gets you there.
- Lifespan: 20-30 years
- Color options: 20+ baked-on finishes that match common siding and trim
- 5” vs 6”: 6-inch is appropriate for larger roof areas (over 1,500 sq ft draining to a single gutter run). We size based on your actual roof, not the lowest-cost default.
Copper
Premium material, premium look. Develops a patina over 5-10 years and lasts 50+ years with no maintenance. We install copper on:
- Historic homes (Buena Vista, West End, Ardmore in Winston-Salem; Fisher Park, Westerwood, Sunset Hills in Greensboro)
- High-end new construction
- Homeowners who want the gutters to be a finished design element, not just functional
Copper gutters cost roughly 3-4x aluminum but last 2-3x as long, and they look better doing it.
Gutter guards
A real question for most Triad homeowners. The Piedmont’s tree canopy — oaks, maples, pines, sweetgums — drops enough debris that ungated gutters need cleaning 2-3 times a year. Gutter guards reduce that significantly, but they’re not all created equal.
What we install:
- Micro-mesh guards (stainless steel, mounted to the gutter) — best for sweetgum balls, oak catkins, and pine needles
- Reverse curve guards — work well but lose efficiency on steep roofs
- Foam inserts — we generally don’t recommend these; they degrade fast in our climate
What we don’t install: the bargain-basement plastic mesh you find at big-box stores. They fail in 2-3 years and turn into a worse maintenance problem than no guard at all.
Fascia, soffit, and the rest of the gutter system
Gutters fasten to the fascia board. If your fascia is rotted (we see this constantly on older homes where the original gutters overflowed for years), there’s no point installing new gutters into a fascia that’s about to fail. We assess and replace:
- Fascia boards — typically PVC or aluminum-wrapped wood for the long run
- Soffit — vented soffit is part of your attic ventilation system; if it’s clogged, painted shut, or rotted, we replace
- Drip edge — metal flashing at the roof edge that directs water into the gutter; missing or improperly installed drip edge is a very common cause of fascia rot
- Downspouts and extensions — sized appropriately and routed away from the foundation
Common gutter problems we fix
- Sagging gutters — almost always undersized hangers or hangers spaced too far apart. We rebuild with proper hidden hangers.
- Overflow at corners — usually the gutter is undersized for the roof area being drained, or there’s not enough downspout capacity
- Water against the foundation — downspouts dumping at the wall; we add extensions or underground drainage
- Ice damming and gutter pull-away — winter freeze-thaw on older systems
- Rotted fascia behind the gutter — the gutter is masking a problem; we open it up, replace the fascia, install new gutters
Why Mid Atlantic for gutters
- Seamless, formed on site — every run is custom
- Hidden hangers every 24 inches — gutters that don’t sag
- Properly sized downspouts based on roof area and rainfall intensity for North Carolina
- Color-matched to your trim, siding, or roof
- Fascia and soffit included when needed — we don’t install new gutters onto rotted wood
- 3-year workmanship warranty
Schedule a gutter estimate
Call (336) 671-5208 or request an estimate online. Most gutter installations wrap in a single day.