Keys Roofing

Gutter Guards That Survive a St. Louis Spring

Gutters are the least glamorous part of a roof and the part most likely to be quietly destroying something expensive.

Gutter guards, honestly

No gutter guard makes a gutter maintenance-free, and any company that says otherwise is selling rather than explaining. What a good guard does is change the job from clearing packed wet debris twice a year to brushing a surface occasionally.

The failure modes differ by type. Cheap plastic screens pop out under the weight of wet leaves and under ice. Foam inserts fill with silt and grow things. Fine stainless micro-mesh handles the oak and maple debris that dominates older St. Louis neighbourhoods well, but it will blind over with shingle grit if it is fitted to a roof that is near the end of its life, which is one reason guards and a new roof tend to belong in the same conversation.

The thing that actually determines whether guards work is what is under them. A guard fitted to an undersized, badly pitched or sagging gutter is a lid on a problem.

Where the water actually goes

This is the part almost nobody in this market sells, and it is the part that does the damage. A downspout that discharges at the foundation has taken every square foot of roof water and concentrated it against the one place you least want it. Over years that is what shows up as a wet basement, a settled corner or a cracked foundation wall, and it gets blamed on everything except the downspout that caused it.

Extensions help. Buried drainage, running the discharge to daylight or to a proper outlet well away from the house, solves it. Keys does downspout reroutes, extensions and underground drainage, which is a genuinely uncommon combination for a roofing company here.

The work, and its limits

Keys does roofing, gutters and downspouts. It does not do siding, windows or general contracting, and saying so is more useful than a longer list would be. Shingles are Atlas and Malarkey.

Drainage is the unusual one. Most roofing companies here stop at the gutter and leave the water to find its own way, which it does, usually into a basement.

Call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333

Straight through to the office. Roofing, gutters and downspouts only, across greater St. Louis.

Ask about gutters or drainage

Including where the water actually ends up.

Before you sign anything

Get the scope in writing first. It should say what is being torn off, what is going back on, what happens when soft decking appears, and who carries the workmanship warranty as distinct from the shingle warranty. Ask whether the crew are employees or subcontractors and whether the salesperson attends the job.

Two warning signs specific to this state. A contractor offering to cover or rebate your deductible is offering something RSMo 407.725 bars. So is one promising to negotiate your insurance claim. Both tell you the company is comfortable operating outside the rules, which is worth knowing before it is on your roof.

Questions people actually ask

Do gutter guards mean I never clean gutters again?

No, and any company saying so is selling rather than explaining. A good guard turns clearing packed wet debris twice a year into brushing a surface occasionally.

My gutters overflow in heavy rain. Are they blocked?

Sometimes, but on larger houses they are frequently just undersized. Five inch gutter with two by three downspouts is fine on a modest roof and badly outmatched by a big steep one. Six inch with three by four moves close to double the water.

Where should downspouts actually discharge?

Well away from the house. A downspout emptying at the foundation concentrates every square foot of roof water against the one place you least want it, and years of that shows up as a wet basement or a settled corner.