Seamless Gutters for St. Louis Homes
Gutters are the least glamorous part of a roof and the part most likely to be quietly destroying something expensive.
Seamless gutters, formed at your house
Seamless gutter is rolled on site from a coil, so the only joints on a run are at corners and outlets. Sectional gutter from a store is joined every ten feet, and every one of those joints is a future leak that will stain the fascia below it.
Sizing is where most gutter work goes wrong. Standard five inch gutter with two inch by three inch downspouts is fine for a modest roof and badly undersized for a large steep one, which is why so many big houses have gutters that overshoot in heavy rain and get blamed for being clogged when they are simply too small. Six inch gutter with three by four downspouts moves close to double the water. Pitch matters too, and so does hanger spacing, which is what stops the run sagging into a pond in the middle.
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.
What Keys actually does
Three things, and deliberately only three: roofing, gutters and downspouts. No siding, no windows, no general contracting. Shingle work is Atlas and Malarkey.
- Full roof replacement and tear-off, with decking replaced where it has gone soft
- Repairs, leak tracing, flashing, pipe boots and valley work
- Roof inspections with photographs and a written scope
- Seamless gutters formed on site, guards, repairs and realignment
- Downspouts, reroutes, extensions and underground drainage that carries water away from the foundation rather than dumping it beside it
That last line is the one most roofing companies in St. Louis do not offer at all. A roof that sheds water perfectly into gutters that discharge against the foundation has relocated the problem, not solved it.
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.
How to judge whoever you call
Four questions separate roofing companies faster than any review score. Are the crews employees or subcontracted day labour, and will the person selling the job ever be on site while it is done? Is there a written scope before a signature, listing what happens if the decking underneath turns out to be soft? What is the warranty on the workmanship as opposed to the manufacturer's warranty on the shingle, and who honours it in four years? And is the company insured for the crew on your roof, not merely licensed?
A company that answers all four plainly is telling you how it operates. One that changes the subject to a discount or a deadline is telling you something as well.
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.