Gutter Installation & Repair in Woodland Park, NJ

Rain, Rivers and What Gutters Can Really Do

Woodland Park knows flooding. The Peckman River flows from Verona through Cedar Grove and Little Falls and joins the Passaic River in Woodland Park, according to a U.S. Geological Survey flood-mapping report. That report lists the McBride Avenue and Lackawanna Avenue bridges among those overtopped at high Peckman stages. Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 both caused major Peckman flooding. In September 2021, the remnants of Ida dropped more than seven inches of rain on the Woodland Park and Little Falls area.

That history led to a $146.2 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood project for the Peckman River basin. It includes a 1,500-foot diversion tunnel to carry Peckman floodwater to the Passaic, plus levees, floodwalls and channel changes.

Being honest about gutters

Gutters cannot keep a river out of your basement. If your house is in the Peckman or Passaic flood zone, gutters are not flood protection. What they can do is control the water that falls on your own roof: a 1,000-square-foot roof sheds roughly 600 gallons in an inch of rain. Getting that water away from your foundation, instead of dumping it next to it, is what keeps a heavy storm from becoming a wet basement on higher ground, where river flooding is not the issue.

Seamless Aluminum Gutters Sized for Woodland Park Roofs

We form seamless aluminum gutters on site to the exact length of each run, so there are no joints along the straight sections to leak. The only seams are at corners and end caps.

5-inch or 6-inch?

• 5-inch K-style works on many smaller single-family houses and simple roof lines.
• 6-inch K-style with 3×4-inch downspouts is what we usually recommend for two-families and larger houses, and for any roof where two slopes drain into a single valley. Those valleys concentrate water at one spot on the gutter, and a 5-inch gutter overshoots it in a downpour.
• Steep roofs on the upper slopes send water fast. A larger gutter, and sometimes a splash guard at the valley, keeps it from shooting over the front edge.

We also check the fascia behind the old gutters. On houses where gutters have overflowed for years, the boards are often soft and need replacement before new gutters can be hung securely. See our gutter installation page for more about the process.

Copper and half-round

For a pre-war house or a custom home that calls for a traditional look, we install copper and half-round gutters with round downspouts. They cost more but suit those houses and last a long time.

Trees, Guards and Cleaning

About a third of Woodland Park is parkland (632.5 acres by the borough’s count), mainly the Garret Mountain Reservation and Rifle Camp Park on the eastern ridge. Add mature street trees across the older neighborhoods, and gutters here fill quickly, especially in fall and in spring when seeds and tassels drop.

• Gutter guards. Micro-mesh guards keep out leaves and most seeds and are the best fit under heavy canopy. Simpler screens suit houses with fewer trees. No guard is maintenance-free: pine needles and fine debris can sit on top and still need brushing off.
• Cleaning. Without guards, homes near the parks may need cleaning in late fall and again in spring. Our gutter cleaning service includes flushing downspouts, which clog at the elbows first.
• Repair. Sagging runs, leaking corners and pulled-off hangers can usually be repaired without replacing the system. See gutter repair.

Downspouts and Where the Water Goes

Where the downspouts discharge matters as much as the gutters themselves. On hillside lots, water discharged at the top of the yard runs downhill toward the next house. On narrow two-family lots in the lower part of town, there is often little room to move water away from the foundation.

• Extend downspouts several feet from the foundation, or into a drainage line if your property has one.
• Do not aim them at a neighbor’s property, a shared driveway or a walkway that freezes in winter.
• Do not tie downspouts into the sanitary sewer. If you are unsure what the borough allows at your address, ask the Building Department and Code Enforcement office at the Municipal Building, 5 Brophy Lane.

Permits

Installing, repairing or replacing exterior gutters and leaders is ordinary maintenance under New Jersey’s construction code, for any type of building, so gutter work by itself does not need a construction permit. If rotted fascia or rafter tails have to be replaced first, that part of the work is a separate question.

Gutter Questions from Woodland Park Homeowners

More Gutter and Roofing Help in Woodland Park

For an overview of all our work in the borough, start with our Woodland Park roofing contractor page. For the bigger picture, see our Passaic County locations page and our statewide New Jersey gutter services.

Overflowing gutters often go hand in hand with roof and trim problems. See roof repair in Woodland Park, Woodland Park roof replacement and soffit, fascia and siding in Woodland Park. Neighbors can find gutters in Little Falls, gutters in Paterson and gutter installation in Clifton.