New Roof or New Gutters First?

[xrongor]

sure they do. if you let them....

randy

[Frank Boettcher]

[RS]

Hi - I urgently need new gutters. I also need (not so urgently) a new roof. Can I get the gutters installed first, or will they just end up getting trashed when I eventually replace the roof?

Thanks,

-RS

[Travis Jordan]

It's been my experience that most roofers trash the gutters pretty badly when they re-roof.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I had no gutter damage when my roof went on, but that is often not the case. I'd go with the roof first, then gutters. Often the same company does both.

[Les and Gina]

When I had my roof done, they roofers took extra care to protect the gutter. One small area was dented and pushed out from debris. When I pointed it out to the roofer (the owner) he tried to straighten the section. He was not pleased with how it looked, so he voluntarily replaced the whole section without hesitation. I could have lived with it, as it was barely noticeable after the attempted repair, but the owner wouldn't have it and insisted on replacing the entire section. I guess it depends on the contractor.

Les

[nonews]

I included the gutter question in getting roofing bids from 3 roofing contractors. All 3 said after roofing.

Thanks,

-RS

[TKM]

Roof first. You can manage without gutters for a while if you have to. Trying to manage with a leaky roof is harder and the potential for damage is greater.

TKM

[C & M]

I'm gonna vote opposite of TKM on this one, although it's a close call. If your gutters are leaking badly they will allow water to fall against the foundation and migrate into the house or crawl space cause water or mold damage. You can do the roofing later without fear of interference. The caveat here is that the roof *is not* leaking and you have checked all of the flashings to be sure that the caulk/ roofing compound is not dried and pulling away. That should be repaired in any event.

[Todd H.]

If I were in your position, I'd float a test balloon out there and get a price on roofing and see how much gutters add to the cost. Then, get the gutter job priced independently. Look at the time value of money for waiting on the roof job, and decide whether it makes sense to do the gutters now.

Most roofers would certainly prefer being able to trash gutters during the tear off cus it saves time and lets them be a little more bombastic. However, if you don't need a new roof at this time, bad gutters can cause you a world of problems in terms of moisture infiltrating the soffit and fascia, ice daming, water at your foundation, etc, so it's best not to ignore those.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.