Gutter Installation & Repair in Clifton, NJ

Why Clifton Gutters Fail

Most Clifton houses were built before 1960, many with gutters that have since been replaced piecemeal: a run of K-style here, an old half-round there, downspouts that dump onto the driveway. The usual problems we are called for:

• Leaves and seed pods. The tree canopy on blocks around Weasel Brook Park, Dutch Hill and the older parts of Athenia fills gutters by early November and again with spring seeds. A clogged gutter overflows behind itself and rots the fascia.
• Sagging runs. Spike-and-ferrule hangers pull out of 70-year-old fascia boards, especially when ice builds up.
• Undersized gutters on big roofs. A two-family with a tall main roof often sheds more water than a 5-inch gutter can carry in a summer downpour.
• Leaking seams and corners on sectional gutters, which is the main reason we install seamless.

One honest note: gutters manage roof water. They do nothing about the Passaic River or a backed-up brook. If your basement floods when the river rises, that is a grading, drainage or floodplain question, not a gutter one.

Seamless Gutters Sized for the House

We form seamless aluminum gutters on site so the only joints are at corners and outlets. On most Clifton single-family houses a 5-inch K-style gutter is enough; on two-families, steep roofs and long rear slopes we often recommend 6-inch gutters with 3×4 downspouts, which carry much more water and clog less. We use hidden hangers screwed into solid fascia, and we replace rotted fascia before hanging anything on it. See gutter installation for sizes and colors.

For pre-war houses where the original look matters, we also install copper and half-round gutters with round downspouts.

Where the Water Goes: Clifton’s Downspout Rule

Clifton’s sewer ordinance says no one may connect roof downspouts, foundation drains or other surface runoff to a building sewer that leads to the public sanitary sewer unless the city approves it. On older houses we sometimes find a downspout piped straight into a pipe in the ground of unknown destination. If it is tied into the sanitary line, it should be redirected.

Winter Edges: Ice, Snow and Older Clifton Roofs

Many of Clifton’s 1940s and 1950s Capes have short eaves and attics that were never ventilated for the insulation added later. Heat escapes through the ceiling, melts snow on the upper roof, and the water refreezes at the cold eave and in the gutter. A gutter packed with ice is heavy enough to pull old spike hangers out of the fascia, and the ice dam behind it can push water under the shingles.

What helps:

• Hidden hangers screwed into sound wood at close spacing, so a gutter full of ice stays on the house.
• Drip edge behind the gutter, so meltwater lands in the trough instead of running down the fascia board.
• Downspouts that drain freely at the bottom. An extension that sits in a low spot freezes solid and turns the whole system into an ice tray.
• Fixing the attic, not just the gutter. If ice dams are a yearly event, the real cure is insulation and ventilation; see our attic ventilation page.

We do not recommend chipping ice out of gutters with tools; it damages shingles and the gutter itself. If a heavy ice load has pulled a run loose, call us and we will secure it until it can be rehung properly.

Guards, Cleaning and Repairs

Under heavy oak and maple cover, a micro-mesh gutter guard cuts cleanings to occasional checks. Under lighter cover, scheduled cleaning in late fall and late spring is often the better value. We will tell you which applies to your trees. See gutter cleaning and gutter guards for the options.

For repairs, we reseal corners and outlets, re-pitch sagging runs, replace crushed downspouts and swap worn hangers. If more than a few sections are failing on an old sectional system, replacement in seamless usually costs less over the next decade than repeated patching. Our gutter repair page covers what can be fixed.

Gutter Questions from Clifton Homeowners

More Exterior Help in Clifton

Return to our Clifton home page, browse the Passaic County service area, or read our statewide gutters guide. Overflowing gutters often go hand in hand with fascia rot and roof-edge leaks, so you may also want siding and fascia work in Clifton, roof repair in Clifton or roof replacement in Clifton.

We install gutters across the area too, including gutters in Passaic, gutters in Paterson and gutters in Nutley.