Gutter Repair
Stop the Overflow Before It Causes Real Damage

Small Repair Now, Big Prevention Later

A sagging gutter or leaking joint doesn't seem urgent, until an atmospheric river dumps four inches of rain in 36 hours and that tiny leak becomes a curtain of water pouring behind your siding and onto the fascia board. Gutter problems are progressive. A loose hanger becomes a sagging section. A sagging section pools water. Pooled water rots the fascia. The rotted fascia drops the gutter entirely. The fallen gutter floods the landscape bed against the foundation, saturates the soil, and starts the slow erosion cycle that nobody sees until a wall cracks ten years later.

The $225 repair you skipped in September becomes the $2,800 repair next February, and the $4,500 fascia rebuild the year after that. I've stood in too many Lafayette and Orinda attics explaining that chain of events to homeowners who just wanted to know why their ceiling was staining. The common thread is always the same, a gutter problem nobody thought was urgent.

What We Handle

Sagging gutters. The most common call. Hangers have pulled loose, fascia has softened, or the gutter was never properly supported at installation. We remove old spike-and-ferrule hardware, replace rotted fascia sections, install Gibraltar hidden hangers screwed through the gutter back into solid rafter tails at 24 inches on center, and verify slope with a laser level. A correctly re-hung gutter should outlast the next 15-20 years of weather.

Leaking joints. Sectional gutters leak where the pieces meet. Inside corners, outside corners, and end caps are the usual suspects. The repair isn't silicone caulk, silicone doesn't bond to aluminum reliably and cracks within a year. We clean the joint thoroughly with a wire brush and solvent, apply Henry gutter sealant (butyl rubber, which flexes with thermal movement and actually bonds to aluminum), and rivet where mechanical reinforcement is needed. For chronic leakers on old sectional systems, we'll often recommend replacing the entire run with a seamless section instead, it's usually cheaper over a 5-year horizon.

Downspout problems. Clogged downspouts, detached elbows, broken outlets, brackets pulled out of the wall. We clear blockages (eucalyptus bark and oak leaves are the usual culprits in the East Bay), replace damaged elbows with color-matched aluminum, re-secure wall brackets with stainless steel screws into solid backing, and reseal the gutter outlet connection with butyl. For homes with chronic downspout clogs, we'll recommend upsizing from 2x3 to 3x4 or adding gutter guards upstream.

Separated hangers and hardware failures. Old spike-and-ferrule hangers, long nails driven through a spacer tube into the fascia — fail progressively. The nails back out, the tubes crack, and the gutter drops. We remove them entirely and replace with modern hidden hangers, which distribute load across a wider area of the rafter tail and don't rely on a nail in tension.

Overflow during heavy rain. Clean gutters still overflow when the system is undersized, when downspouts are too few, or when slope is wrong. We diagnose the actual cause — sometimes adding a single downspout at a long run fixes a persistent overflow, sometimes upsizing from 5-inch to 6-inch is the right call, sometimes the gutter just needed re-sloping.

Fascia rot behind gutters. The most damaging and expensive failure. Water overflowing the back edge of a gutter (from clogs or back-pitched installation) saturates the fascia board for years before anyone notices. By the time the gutter sags visibly, the fascia and sometimes the rafter tails behind it are compromised. We remove the gutter, cut out all rotted wood, replace with primed pressure-treated or PVC fascia, prime and paint, and rehang. Fascia repair can run from $150 for a single board to $2,500 for a full-run replacement.

Downspout damage. Crushed downspouts from ladders, dented sections from fallen branches, bent elbows from lawnmowers. These we just replace — a 10-foot section of 2x3 aluminum downspout is $25 in material and 20 minutes of labor. Not a big job.

When You Actually Need a Repair Call

Most East Bay gutters need repair somewhere between years 8 and 20 of service life, and earlier if the original install used sectional pieces or spike-and-ferrule hangers. Call us when you see:

• Visible sag in any gutter run
• Water overflowing at specific points during rain
• Water streaming down the exterior wall (sign of a joint failure above)
• A gutter pulling away from the fascia
• Downspouts detached or crushed
• Fascia staining, bubbling paint, or soft spots behind the gutter
• A gutter that's been dripping onto the same point of walkway for weeks

If you're seeing any of the above, the repair cost goes up with each month of delay. The absolute worst outcome is the one where the fascia rot progresses into the rafter tails — that's a structural repair that can run $5,000-$10,000 per elevation, and it always starts with a gutter someone ignored.

Root Causes We Actually Fix

The hardware-store approach to gutter repair — squeeze some silicone on the leak, drive a new spike, bend the gutter back into shape with your hands — fails because it treats symptoms. Silicone doesn't bond to aluminum. Spikes pull out of the same soft hole they came out of. Bent gutters lose their profile and trap water at the deformation. The repair lasts until the next heavy rain.

Our approach addresses the underlying cause:

• New fascia where the wood is soft or rotted
• Hidden hangers that distribute load across the rafter tail instead of concentrating it on a single nail
• Butyl sealant that flexes with thermal movement and chemically bonds to aluminum
• Re-sloped runs so water actually reaches the downspout instead of pooling
• Added or upsized downspouts where the original design is under-capacity

The result is a repair that lasts the remaining service life of the gutter system, not just until the next atmospheric river event.

Materials We Use

Henry gutter sealant (butyl rubber) for all joint sealing. GAF StormGuard ice and water shield applied to exposed fascia before new gutters go back on, as an extra moisture barrier. Gibraltar hidden hangers — stainless steel or aluminum, screwed through the gutter back into solid rafter tails. Amerimax replacement sections and Englert coil stock for seamless in-place fabrication when section replacement is needed. For downspout elbows and outlets we carry Amerimax in the most common colors on every truck.

Code Requirements

Gutter repair is considered minor work under CRC R105.2 and doesn't require a standalone permit in any East Bay jurisdiction we work in. The repair does need to maintain compliance with CRC R801.3 — roof drainage has to discharge at least 6 feet from the foundation or through an approved drainage system. If we find grading issues at the downspout termination, we'll flag them and recommend extensions or buried drain lines.

For WUI fire zone homes, repairs must use noncombustible materials consistent with California Building Code Chapter 7A — aluminum and steel qualify, plastic and vinyl don't.

Pricing and Timeline

Minor repair (1-3 leaking joints, loose hanger reseat, downspout clog): $150-$450, typically 1-90 minutes on-site. Section replacement (one run of gutter, new material, new hangers): $350-$800, 1-3 hours. Downspout repair or replacement: $200-$500, 1-2 hours. Full-length re-hang with fascia replacement: $1,200-$2,500, full day. Multi-elevation comprehensive repair: $1,500-$3,500 range.

Same-day service is available when crews have capacity. Most repair calls are scheduled within 2-5 business days. We schedule year-round and don't push homeowners to wait for dry weather unless the repair specifically requires it.

Prevention: What Actually Works

Gutters are mechanical systems that need maintenance. The prevention routine that actually works:

• Annual cleaning minimum, twice a year if you've got oak or eucalyptus overhanging. Fall cleaning before the winter rains is non-negotiable.
• Gutter guards for properties with heavy organic debris. Micro-mesh systems (MasterShield, Gutter Helmet, K-Guard) are the only ones worth installing.
• Downspout maintenance. Check the outlets for blockage, check the elbows for secure connection, check the wall brackets annually.
• Fascia inspection. Look at the wood behind the gutter once a year. If paint is bubbling or the wood is soft, fix it before it costs five figures.

We offer maintenance plans that bundle gutter cleaning, inspection, and minor repair into an annual or semi-annual visit — $275-$450 per visit depending on the home — and most of our multi-year customers haven't had a major gutter problem since starting.

East Bay Cities We Serve

Gutter repair covers all 38 East Bay cities in our service area. Highest call volume runs through the corridors with the most mature tree cover: Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Berkeley Hills, Oakland Hills, Piedmont, Kensington, El Cerrito, Rockridge, Montclair, and the Alameda/Hayward foothills. Full city list on our locations page.

Same-Day Gutter Repair

Call (925) 722-4916 or request service online. We'll diagnose the problem, quote the repair honestly, and get it fixed — usually within 1-4 hours once the crew is on-site. C-39 licensed (CA #987654), GAF Master Elite, CertainTeed SELECT ShingleMaster, 4.9 stars across 527 reviews, and at 2310 Bates Ave #AA in Concord since 1988.