Roofs and gutters
Roof Repairs and Gutters
Roofing repairs, gutter cleaning and guard installs, and the fascia boards gutters hang from.
Where the water gets in before you see it
Roof and gutter trouble shows up late. By the time a ceiling stain appears, the water has usually been working for a season. The early signs are outside: gutters packed with maple seeds and shingle grit that overflow down the brick, a lifted shingle along a ridge, a gap where the fascia board meets the soffit, a window where the caulk has pulled away and left a hairline channel.
Central Indiana weather is hard on all of it. Freeze and thaw pry at every seam, summer storms drive rain sideways, and leaf season fills gutters faster than anyone remembers to empty them. A gutter that cannot drain pours its load onto the fascia, and the fascia is wood. That is how a small cleaning job turns into a carpentry job.
If you are in Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville or Avon and something looks off at the roofline, call me at 317-850-6427 before the next storm and we will go over what you are seeing.
Two workers on a two-story house, one in hi-vis yellow on the lower roof with a long-handled brush and one on the upper roof, a ladder leaning against the porch
Clean it, guard it, patch it, seal it
Gutter work starts with getting everything out. I clear the troughs by hand, flush the downspouts with water to prove they run, and look for sagging runs, loose hangers and joints that weep. A gutter that is clean but pitched wrong will still hold water, so I fix the hangers before I call it done. Gutter guards go on after that, never before, so nothing gets trapped underneath.
Roofing repairs are patch work: I replace damaged or lifted shingles, reseat flashing and seal around penetrations, and I check the roof edge where the shingles meet the fascia. If the fascia or soffit board behind the gutter has gone soft, I cut it back to sound wood and put in a new board, then prime and paint it so the end grain is closed up. I work from the ladder and the roof myself.
Window caulking is the quiet part of the job. Old caulk comes out first, the joint is cleaned and dried, and fresh exterior sealant goes in as one continuous bead. Done well, you will not notice it. Done badly, you notice it every spring.
A look every season, not a fix once
Gutters and roofs do not stay fixed. They stay maintained. After a heavy leaf drop in the fall and again after the spring thaw is when I like to see a gutter line, and those are the two times worth putting on the calendar. It takes a short visit, and it is far cheaper than the board that rots when a downspout stays clogged.
Gutter guards cut down how often the troughs clog, but they do not make a house maintenance-free. Pine needles and shingle grit still collect on top, and a quick look from the ladder keeps the water going where it belongs.
Between visits, watch for the signs: overflow on a dry-weather rinse, paint peeling at the roofline, or a stain on a ceiling below a valley. Any of those is worth a call to 317-850-6427, and I can tell you over the phone whether it is a cleaning job or something that needs hands on the roof.
The Residential Handyman — Licensed, bonded and insured general contractor. Call 317-850-6427.
Above the gutter line
Roof. Gutter. Seal.
On the roof
- Roofing repairs
At the gutter line
- Gutter cleaning
- Gutter guard installations
Around the openings
- Window caulking
The boards the gutters hang from get the same attention: soft fascia and soffit are cut back to sound wood, replaced and painted before the trough goes back up.
- Also on the list: Carpentry
- Also on the list: Power washing
- Also on the list: Painting (interior and exterior)
