Gutters get the attention, but the downspout is the part that decides where several thousand gallons a year end up. Too few, too small, or pointed at the foundation, and the gutter above them was a waste of money.
Most overflowing gutters in this area are not undersized troughs. They are correctly sized troughs with half the outlets they need, feeding downspouts that cannot pass the volume.
Water leaves a gutter through the outlets, not over the front edge, and a long run with one outlet in the middle will spill at both ends in a hard rain. We calculate drainage area per run, add outlets where the math says to, and run the downspout in a size and route that actually carries it. Then we get the discharge away from the house.
We work from the drainage area feeding each run and the 6.5 inch per hour design rainfall Virginia uses. That tells us how many outlets a run needs and whether three by four is enough or the job needs larger.
A downspout in the wrong corner sends roof water across a walkway or into your neighbor's grade. We look at the lot before we pick the corner, not after the gutter is already hung.
Straps every few feet, elbows that fit instead of bind, and no crushed sections left in service. A dented downspout restricts flow at exactly the spot debris wants to stop.
Downspout work ranges from replacing one crushed run behind a driveway to rebuilding the outlet layout on an entire house. Both start with the same question, which is where the water is supposed to go.
Four questions. You get a straight read on whether this is a repair, a replacement, a gutter job or an insurance claim, and where to go next.
We cover Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area out of two offices. Search for your town, or pick it off the list to see the map and the local page.
No match in our service area. Call (703) 347-6482 anyway, we travel for larger jobs.
We get on the roof and photograph what we find before we quote. You see the same evidence we do.
One crew for the roof, the siding and the gutters, so nobody is blaming the other trade.
Virginia license 2705155080, CertainTeed ShingleMaster certified, fully insured on every job.
Photos and video through the whole install on CompanyCam, stored indefinitely, with a link that is yours to keep.
Four to six feet is the general minimum, and on a lot that slopes back toward the house it needs to go further. A splash block at the base of the spout is not a discharge point, it is erosion control. Extensions or a buried line get the water out to where it stops mattering.
Usually not. Check the outlets first. A five inch gutter with enough correctly placed outlets handles most Northern Virginia homes, and that same gutter with one outlet at the far end will sheet over the front edge every summer storm. Adding outlets costs far less than replacing gutter.
Yes, and it is one of the more useful small jobs we do. We cut and fit a new outlet, drop the spout on the elevation that makes sense for your grading, and strap it. On a house that overflows in one specific corner, this is often the entire fix.
Not always. A dented section can often be replaced piece by piece rather than replacing the whole drop. If the damage is at the bottom elbow where cars and mowers reach it, we can also move the discharge or run the last few feet underground so it stops happening.
They should. Metal, color, and profile all matter for appearance and for corrosion. Mixed metal joints corrode, and a rectangular spout hung on a half round gutter reads as a repair from the street. We match what is there or price replacing both.
Every town we cover has its own page with local detail. Pick yours.
Local pages for the towns we cover.
A seamless run, a new downspout or a re-pitched trough still fills with leaves, seed pods and shingle grit. Cleaned on a schedule, gutters drain the way they were built to. Every visit we clear each trough by hand, flush every downspout and check the hangers and pitch. We don’t install gutter guards. See why.
Free inspection, written estimate, no obligation. Call (703) 347-6482 and we will walk the perimeter with you and show you which corner is actually causing the problem.
Tell us what you are seeing and we will get back to you to set a time.