Gutter Repair in Connecticut

Local know-how

Nor'easters, colonials and coastal air

Connecticut gutters face nor'easters, heavy snow and long freeze-thaw winters, with around 45 to 50 inches of precipitation a year. Coastal towns along Long Island Sound face salt air and storm surge; Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 both caused widespread damage along the shoreline.

The state has a great deal of historic housing: colonials, Capes and Victorians, many with Yankee gutters built into the roof edge and lined with metal. When the lining fails, water goes into the cornice and walls rather than over the edge. Relining these gutters keeps the look of the house and solves the leak.

Hartford and the Connecticut River valley have older city neighborhoods and large post-war suburbs. Fairfield County, from Greenwich to Fairfield, has large homes on wooded lots with heavy leaf drop and long gutter runs. The Litchfield Hills and northeast corner see heavier snow and longer winters.

Ice dams are common on older homes with limited attic insulation, and the weight of ice in a clogged gutter pulls hangers out of the fascia. Cleaning in late November, hidden hangers into sound wood, and better insulation are the combination that works.

Fairfield County and the Gold Coast

Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport and Fairfield have large homes on wooded lots, many with long gutter runs, multiple roof levels and copper or half-round gutters. Leaf drop from oaks, maples and beeches is heavy in November. Coastal homes along Long Island Sound face salt air and storm surge, and many were raised or rebuilt after Irene and Sandy.

New Haven and the shoreline

New Haven has older neighborhoods with Victorian and colonial homes, many near Yale, and multi-family homes in Fair Haven and the Hill. Shoreline towns from Milford to Old Saybrook face coastal storms. Mystic and Stonington in the southeast have historic homes with wood gutters and copper.

Hartford and the Connecticut River valley

Hartford's West End and Asylum Hill have large Victorian and early twentieth-century homes, many with slate roofs and built-in gutters. Suburbs such as West Hartford, Glastonbury, Simsbury and Manchester have colonials and Capes under heavy tree cover. The October 2011 snowstorm, which hit while leaves were still on the trees, brought down trees and crushed gutters across the region.

Crumbling foundations in northeastern Connecticut

Many homes in northeastern Connecticut were built with concrete containing pyrrhotite, a mineral that reacts with water and oxygen and causes foundations to crack and crumble over time. Keeping water away from those foundations is especially important. Downspouts should discharge well away from the house, and grading should slope away from the walls.

The Litchfield Hills and Quiet Corner

Northwest Connecticut's Litchfield Hills and the Quiet Corner in the northeast are rural, wooded and hilly, with colder winters and more snow than the coast. Old farmhouses and barns there have long rooflines and gutters that take a beating from ice. Steep lots need careful downspout routing.

Hiring in Connecticut

Connecticut requires home improvement contractors to register with the Department of Consumer Protection, and the state runs a guaranty fund for homeowners harmed by registered contractors. Contracts must be in writing and include a cancellation notice. One call from Greenwich to the Quiet Corner reaches a registered local installer.

Yankee gutters explained

A Yankee gutter is a wooden trough built into the lower edge of the roof itself, lined with copper, lead-coated copper or, on later repairs, rubber membrane. From the ground it looks like the roof simply ends in a neat wooden edge. When the lining cracks or the seams fail, water soaks the wooden structure and runs inside the walls, often showing as peeling paint or stained plaster well below the roof. Many Connecticut colonials have Yankee gutters that were covered with shingles and replaced with a hung aluminum gutter decades ago, leaving the old trough to rot unseen.

Connecticut leaf season

Connecticut's mixed hardwood forests turn and drop leaves from mid-October through November, with oaks hanging on longest. A single clean in late November, after the oaks are bare and before the first hard freeze, suits most homes. Properties under heavy canopy, especially in Fairfield and Litchfield counties, often need an early November clean as well.

Waterbury, New Britain and the Naugatuck Valley

Waterbury, Torrington and the Naugatuck Valley towns grew around brass mills and factories, and their hillside neighborhoods have three-family triple-deckers with porches on every floor. Each porch roof has its own short gutter and downspout, and the main roof drains three stories down. Steep streets mean downspouts often discharge onto sidewalks, which ice over in winter.

Hurricanes and Connecticut's coast

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 remains the benchmark storm, but Bob in 1991, Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012 also caused heavy damage along the shoreline. Coastal homes need gutters fastened firmly, with stainless fasteners, and downspouts strapped against wind.

Choosing gutters for Connecticut homes

Newer Connecticut houses usually get a 6-inch seamless trough and 3x4 pipe. For colonials and Capes, half-round gutters and round downspouts look right, and copper is the classic choice on historic houses. Relining Yankee gutters keeps the original look and avoids hanging metal on a historic cornice.

Bridgeport, Stratford and the I-95 corridor

Bridgeport, Stratford and Milford have dense neighborhoods of two-family and three-family homes alongside post-war Capes. Many sit close to their neighbors, so a downspout that drains toward the property line can soak the house next door. Older multi-family homes often have porches on each level with separate short gutters that are easy to forget during cleaning. Salt air near the Sound shortens the life of steel hangers.

What to ask a Connecticut contractor

Ask whether the contractor has worked on Yankee gutters or slate, whether they solder copper, how they will protect plantings and the roof edge during work, and whether the fascia is included in the price if it turns out to be rotten.

Storrs, Willimantic and eastern Connecticut

UConn's main campus at Storrs and the mill city of Willimantic sit in the rolling, wooded east of the state. Rental homes near campus often have neglected gutters, and old mill housing in Willimantic, Putnam and Danielson has steep roofs, tall downspouts and fascia patched many times. Winters are colder here than on the coast, with more snow that stays on roofs for weeks.

Danbury and western Connecticut

Danbury, Ridgefield and New Milford sit in the hills near New York, with colonials and lake homes on Candlewood Lake.

Middletown and the lower valley

Middletown, home to Wesleyan, has Victorian homes on hills above the river.

Stone walls, tight lots and where the water can go

Older Connecticut properties often have a stone wall, a shared drive or a lot line within a few feet of the house, which leaves very little room for a downspout to discharge. Water released against a dry-laid wall works through the joints and undermines it over a few winters.

The usual answer is a buried line that passes the wall and daylights on the far side, or a dry well sized for the roof area where there is nowhere to send it. Discharging toward a neighbor over a shared boundary creates a problem that no gutter work will fix.