Building Envelope
Seamless Gutters and Exterior Work in the Twin Cities
Gutters are the cheapest part of the building envelope and one of the most expensive to neglect. Everything they do is about keeping water away from the foundation, and many wet basements in the metro start at the roofline.
Seamless gutters and leaf guards
Seamless gutter is roll-formed on site to the exact length of each run, so the only joints are at the corners and outlets. We install 5-inch K-style aluminum as standard, and 6-inch with larger downspouts where the roof area draining to a run calls for it. Gutters are hung on hidden hangers screwed into the rafter tails, and the fascia behind them is checked before quoting.
Leaf guards reduce how often a gutter needs clearing — they do not eliminate it — and are usually worth it under mature trees, particularly on a two-story where clearing means a ladder.
Where the water goes
A downspout that discharges at the foundation has moved the problem four feet and no further. Extensions, splash blocks or a buried line to daylight carry the water far enough out that it does not come back through the basement wall. It is the cheapest improvement available to many houses, and sometimes it is the whole answer to a damp lower level.
Siding, trim and painting
The same team handles the rest of the envelope: siding replacement, fascia and soffit, exterior trim and painting. Rotten fascia is worth catching while the gutters are down, and where siding comes off, it is the moment to check the water-resistive barrier and the flashing behind it.
How we price this work
You get a written scope of the work. Where it is well defined we quote a fixed price. Where it genuinely is not — an old structure, an unknown behind a wall — we work cost-plus, and we tell you which model we are using and why before you sign anything. Any change to the scope or the price is written up as a change order and agreed before the work happens.
Gutter is priced by the foot, so the number follows the roofline: linear feet, corners and outlets, the downspouts the roof needs, fascia condition, leaf guards and access.
Questions we get asked on site visits
- Will new gutters stop my ice dams?
- No. Ice dams are caused by heat escaping into the attic, which melts snow on the upper roof; the meltwater runs to the cold eave and refreezes. The fix is air sealing and insulation in the attic, and keeping the ventilation path clear. Replacing gutters to solve ice dams is money spent on the wrong problem.
- What size gutter do I need?
- 5-inch K-style aluminum suits most Twin Cities roofs. Larger roof areas and steeper pitches can justify 6-inch with larger downspouts — a calculation from the area draining to each run, not a preference.
- Are leaf guards worth it?
- Under mature trees, usually. They reduce how often a gutter needs clearing, but fine debris and shingle grit still accumulate, and no guard removes the need to clear a gutter entirely.
- My basement is damp — could it be the gutters?
- It can be, and it is the cheapest thing to check. A downspout discharging at the foundation has moved the water four feet and no further.
More on this from our blog
- Ice Dams in Minnesota: What Gutters Can and Cannot Do Ice dams start with heat escaping into the attic, so the fix is up there, and gutters have a different job: keeping water away from the foundation.
Free Estimate