Emergency gutter repair in Pontiac, MI

What counts as a gutter emergency

A gutter problem is an emergency when someone could get hurt or water is getting into the building. In practice that means one of these:

• A gutter or downspout hanging loose above a door, walkway, driveway, deck or play area.
• A section torn off by a tree limb, wind or sliding ice, especially if fascia or soffit came with it and the roof edge is open.
• Water pouring over the gutter and into the house during a storm, through a door, a window, a window well or the basement wall.
• Meltwater dripping through the soffit, an exterior wall or a ceiling near the eave in winter, a sign of ice backing water up under the shingles.
• A gutter sagging hard under ice with fasteners visibly pulling out.
• A downspout discharging into a window well or against an electrical service in heavy rain.

A slow drip at a corner, a gutter that needs cleaning, or an old sag that has been there for years can wait for a scheduled gutter repair. If you're unsure, call and describe it. We'll tell you honestly whether it can wait until morning.

What to do before help arrives

What emergency gutter repair involves

An emergency visit has 2 stages, and they don't always happen on the same day.

Stage 1: make it safe and stop the water

We look at what failed and what's at risk. A hanging section is either refastened to solid wood or taken down in a controlled way if it's too damaged to trust. Blocked gutters and downspouts are cleared so water has somewhere to go.

Discharge is redirected away from the foundation. If the roof edge has been opened up, it's covered to keep rain and animals out until the wood can be replaced.

Stage 2: permanent repair

Once it's dry and safe to work, we do the lasting fix: new hangers, resealed corners, a replacement section formed to match, or fascia and soffit repair where wood was torn out. If the damage shows the system was already at the end of its life, we'll price a seamless gutter replacement next to the repair so you can decide.

Pontiac's 2 gutter emergency seasons: June storms and late-winter ice

Emergency calls here cluster at 2 times of year, and the damage is different in each.

Early summer. June is usually the wettest month in Pontiac, and the rain tends to come as thunderstorms. A gutter that was never cleaned out after spring seed drop meets a downpour, and the overflow lands in window wells and against basement walls.

The same storms bring wind that drops limbs onto roof edges. The damage is sudden: a clean break, a crushed section, a flooded corner.

Late winter. With winter temperatures averaging in the mid 20s and several feet of snow over the season, gutters spend weeks loaded with ice. The failure is slower.

Fasteners pull a little more with each freeze, and then on a mild day in February or March the whole run lets go as the ice shifts. Winter is also when meltwater backs up behind ice at the eave and shows up as a ceiling stain.

Knowing which season you're in tells you what to check. Before June, make sure the gutters and downspouts are clear.

Before winter, make sure they're empty and firmly attached. And most of the emergencies we see could probably have been a routine cleaning or a few new hangers a month or 2 earlier.

What affects the cost of emergency gutter service

Emergency work costs more than the same repair on a scheduled day, and the total depends on what has to be done. The factors:

• Time of the call. Nights, weekends, holidays and active storms.
• Conditions. Ice, darkness and wet surfaces slow everything down and limit what can safely be done at height.
• Extent of damage. Refastening one run is very different from removing a mangled gutter and covering an open roof edge.
• Height and access.
• Whether a second visit is needed for permanent repairs, and what materials that takes.
• Tree debris. A large limb on the roof may need a tree service before gutter work can start.

We tell you the cost of the emergency visit before starting and price the permanent repair separately, so you aren't committed to more than making the house safe.

What to monitor after an emergency repair

Watch the repaired area through the next rain or thaw. Check inside as well: a wall or ceiling that got wet should dry out within days. If a stain keeps growing, water is still getting in.

Look at the basement wall nearest any downspout that overflowed. If water came in there once, improving the downspout discharge should be next on the list.

Emergency calls are part of our day-to-day gutter repair service in Pontiac, handled by the same company that would do the follow-up work.

Emergency gutter repair questions homeowners ask