Water over the gutter edge and pooling at the foundation: what is wrong and how to fix it

What that waterfall off the roofline means

You notice it during a hard rain: water sheeting over the front edge of the gutter instead of running to the downspout, a steady drip at a corner where two runs meet, or a section that has started to sag and pull away from the fascia. After the storm you find a trench carved into the mulch, splash marks up the brick and a puddle sitting against the slab. Inside, the signs come later: a damp spot in a closet on an exterior wall, a door that has started to stick, a crack in the drywall at the corner of a window.

At The Brothers that just do Gutters, this is the call we get most. Gutters have one job, which is to collect everything the roof sheds and carry it away from the house. When they stop, the water does not disappear. It goes into the ground right next to the foundation, into the fascia board behind the gutter, and sometimes behind the siding. None of those are good places for it in North Texas.

Why gutters fail on Dallas-area houses

Our storms are the first reason. A spring thunderstorm here can drop a large volume of water in a short time, and a gutter system that handles a drizzle fine simply cannot move that much water if it is undersized, clogged or sloped wrong. The second reason is debris. Live oaks drop leaves and catkins for weeks, pecans and elms add their share, and roof grit from shingles washes down with every rain. A gutter with no guards can fill in a single season.

The third reason is the house itself. The expansive clay soil under most of the region moves with the seasons, and when water is dumped at one corner of a slab year after year, that corner gets wetter than the rest and the slab can move unevenly. Gutters that drain poorly are not the only cause of foundation trouble, but they are one of the easiest to correct. Finally, age and installation quality matter. Sectional gutters joined every ten feet leak at the seams as sealant dries out, spikes pull loose from the fascia, and downspouts that were placed for convenience rather than drainage send water exactly where it should not go.

• Clogs from leaves, catkins, pecans and shingle grit
• Wrong slope, so water sits and spills rather than running to the downspout
• Too few or badly placed downspouts for the roof area feeding them
• A five-inch gutter on a roof that sheds enough water to need a six-inch
• Seams, spikes and hangers that have let go over time
• Rotted fascia behind the gutter, so there is nothing solid to hang it from

A ten-minute inspection you can do from the ground

Wait for the next real rain and walk the house with an umbrella. Note every place water comes over the edge, every drip at a corner or seam, and every downspout that is dry while the gutter above it overflows, which means it is blocked. Look at where each downspout ends. If it dumps within a foot or two of the slab, the water is going straight down next to the foundation.

On a dry day, stand back and sight along each gutter run. It should fall gently toward the downspout; a run that is dead level or bows in the middle holds water. Look for dark streaks on the fascia below the gutter, peeling paint, and any gap between the back of the gutter and the fascia board. Press the fascia with a screwdriver handle if you can reach it safely from a step; soft wood means the gutter has been leaking behind itself for a while. Please stay off ladders on a two-story house. Nothing in a gutter is worth a fall.

• Where water overflows during rain, and where it drips when the rain stops
• Downspouts that stay dry in a storm, or that end right at the slab
• Sagging runs, visible seams, hangers or spikes backing out
• Streaks, peeling paint or soft spots on the fascia and soffit
• Erosion, splash marks or standing water along the foundation after rain

Cleaning versus repairing versus replacing: when to stop guessing

If the gutters are sound and simply full, a cleaning solves it, and a maintenance plan keeps it solved. If the metal is in good shape but a few hangers have let go or one seam drips, a repair is honest and enough. We do both, and we will say so when that is all a house needs. Where cleaning and patching stop making sense is when the system is sectional and leaking at several joints, when the runs have been re-hung so many times the fascia is full of holes, when the gutters are undersized for the roof, or when the fascia behind them has rotted.

You should also stop and call someone when you see water inside the house, when the slab or the brick shows new cracks, or when the gutter is pulling away in a way that could bring it down in the next storm. Those are not weekend jobs. A crew that only does gutters will look at the whole system, from roof pitch to where the water finally lands, rather than at the one spot that is dripping today.

How our crew sizes, builds and hangs a new system

Every job starts with a free, no-obligation inspection and estimate. One of our Solutionists comes to the house, usually within a few days, and looks at the roofline, the pitch, the overhang, the fascia and the valleys where two roof planes meet and concentrate water. That tells us how much water each run has to carry and where downspouts belong. We then recommend a size, which for most homes is five-inch or six-inch, with seven-inch available for large or steep roofs, and talk through material and color.

Seamless gutters are formed on site from a continuous coil, so each run is one piece from corner to downspout with no joints to fail. Colored aluminum is the usual choice; copper, galvanized and Galvalume are options for a particular look or a longer life. Rotted fascia and soffit are repaired before anything is hung, because a gutter is only as strong as the board behind it. Hidden hangers go in at close intervals, the run is pitched to the downspout, and downspouts are placed and extended so water lands well away from the slab.

If you are tired of cleaning, guards go on at the same time. Our BroGuard guard is designed to shed leaves and grit while letting water in, and we fit guards only where they are needed; a side of the house with no trees over it may not need them at all. After the estimate is approved and a deposit placed, most projects are finished within one to two weeks depending on scope and material availability. Financing is available for homeowners who want to spread the cost.

• Inspection of roofline, pitch, overhang, fascia and valleys
• Gutter size and downspout count chosen for the roof area, not from stock
• Fascia and soffit repair before the new gutter is hung
• Seamless runs formed on site, hidden hangers, correct pitch
• Downspouts extended or tied into drainage so water leaves the foundation
• Guards fitted where trees make them worthwhile

What moves the price up or down

We give every price in writing after seeing the house, because the variables are real. Linear footage is the base: a sprawling single story can have more gutter than a compact two story. Height and roof pitch add labor and safety time. Material is a major factor; aluminum is the standard, and copper or galvanized cost more. Size matters a little, with six-inch above five-inch.

The items that surprise people are the hidden ones. Rotted fascia has to be replaced, and that is carpentry on top of gutter work. A house with few downspouts may need several more, each with its own elbows and extensions. Drainage solutions that carry water underground to the street or a dry well are a separate line. Guards add to the total but remove the cost of cleaning twice a year, which is how most homeowners think about them. Removing and hauling off the old system is included in our quotes.

How to pick a gutter company you will not regret

Ask what else the company does. A roofer or handyman who adds gutters as a side line hangs them differently than a crew that does nothing else. Ask whether the gutters are seamless and formed on site or sectional from a store. Ask how they decide on size and downspout placement; if the answer is that everyone gets five-inch, keep looking. Ask what they do about rotted fascia, because some companies hang new gutters over bad wood and leave you to find out later.

Read the reviews, all of them. We publish every review we receive, good and bad, because a company that only shows its best moments is not telling you much. Get the estimate in writing with the material, size, color, downspout count and any fascia work itemized. And ask how long the install will take and who will be at the house; a named local crew is a good sign.

• Gutters as the main trade, not an add-on
• Seamless, on-site formed runs with hidden hangers
• A sizing explanation tied to your roof, not a default
• Fascia repair included in the plan where needed
• Every review visible, and an itemized written estimate

The mistakes we are called to undo

The most expensive one is ignoring overflow for years because it only happens in big storms. Those are exactly the storms that saturate the soil at the slab. Another is adding a guard to a gutter that is undersized or badly pitched; the guard keeps the leaves out but the water still spills. We also see downspouts that end at a splash block tilted toward the house, and extensions that were removed for mowing and never put back.

Do-it-yourself installs often go wrong on slope, with runs hung level because that looks right, and on fastening, with spikes driven into fascia that was already soft. Sealing a leaking seam every spring on a sectional system is a treadmill; at some point seamless costs less than the repeated repairs. And cleaning only the gutters you can see from the driveway leaves the back of the house, where the trees usually are, full.

What to expect once you reach out

You can schedule online or call, and we will set a time for the free inspection, usually within a few days. The Solutionist will walk the house with you, point out what we see, and leave you with a written estimate and options rather than a single take-it-or-leave-it number. There is no obligation at that point, and plenty of homeowners use the visit simply to understand their system.

If you go ahead, a deposit secures the schedule and most installs are done within one to two weeks. The crew arrives on the day, removes the old system, repairs any fascia, forms and hangs the new runs, sets downspouts and guards, and cleans up. We serve Dallas, the Park Cities, Richardson, Plano, Garland, Carrollton, Lewisville, Flower Mound and the surrounding cities, and we are glad to put the system on a maintenance schedule afterward so you never have to think about it before a storm again.

Questions people ask me