Gutter installation in Chesterfield, MO

Gutters in Chesterfield

The houses here are large, and that's the whole problem. A two-story off Clarkson Road, Baxter Road or Schoettler puts 1,000 to 1,400 square feet of roof onto the back gutter, and many builders fitted it with 5-inch aluminum, a 2x3 downspout at one end, and spike hangers. In a Missouri thunderstorm that run overflows at the far corner onto the deck, and the water runs down the foundation wall into a finished basement. It looks like a clog. It usually isn't.

Twenty-five to fifty years on, the aluminum itself is done on many of the 1970s–90s streets: sectional in the older subdivisions, first-generation seamless in the later ones, leaking at the corners and pulling away from fascia that has been overflowed on for a decade. On those houses the job is usually a full replacement, sized properly this time.

Gutter installation, Chesterfield, MO: what replacement looks like

Tear-off, a fascia check, and new seamless .032 aluminum — usually 6-inch with 3x4 downspouts on the long back runs and 5-inch with 3x4 on the shorter ones, hidden hangers into the rafter tails, an extra downspout on every run over 35 feet, and extensions or a buried line so the water ends up six feet from the basement wall. A two-story Chesterfield home with 220 feet of gutter and six downspouts typically runs $2,600–$3,900; big hip-roofed homes on the bluffs with a dozen corners run higher. The installation guide covers the sizing, and the cost guide has the tables.

Signs a Chesterfield system is finished

Walk the house with these in mind before you ask for prices:

• Seams every ten feet that drip in a light rain — sectional gutters that will keep leaking.
• Spikes backing out along the back of the house, with the gutter tipping forward.
• Paint peeling on the fascia in long bands, which means water has been getting behind the gutter for years.
• Dents and creases from ladders, hail or fallen limbs that hold standing water.
• Overflow at the same corner every storm, even right after a cleaning.

If you see two or three of those on most sides of the house, replacement usually makes more sense than repair. If it's one corner and one run, start with a repair.

How a two-story job usually runs

On a large house the work is mostly planning. The crew sets ladders with standoffs so nothing leans on the old gutters, takes the old system down one side at a time, and checks the fascia with a screwdriver as it goes. Soft boards get replaced before anything new goes up. Each run is measured, formed from coil on the truck, lifted into place and screwed to hidden hangers. Downspouts are placed where the roof sends the most water, not just at the corners, and the outlets are routed toward the yard. The day ends with a hose test on every run. Ask how they plan to protect the deck, landscaping and any skylights below the roof edge.

Finished basements and where the water goes

Many Chesterfield homes have a finished lower level, often a walk-out on the sloping lots. That raises the stakes. A downspout that empties next to a basement window well or onto a patio that slopes toward the house can undo the best gutter job. On flat lots, extensions carrying water six feet out are often enough. On lots that slope toward the house, a buried line to a pop-up emitter or to daylight downhill is usually the better answer. Have the estimate show where each downspout will end.

Questions for the estimate

1. What size gutter goes on each side, and why?
2. How many downspouts, and where will they go?
3. What hangers, and at what spacing?
4. How will fascia be checked, and what does a soft board cost per foot?
5. What color, and will it match the HOA chart?
6. How will the deck, beds and roof be protected during the work?

The bluffs and the valley

Chesterfield is two places. The older neighborhoods up on the bluffs — off Conway, Ladue Road, Olive and Clarkson — are wooded, with mature oaks and the sycamores that came with the lots. Gutters there fill in October and need guards or two cleanings a year. The valley along the Missouri River and I-64 is flatter, newer, and open, with fewer trees but heavier wind exposure in a storm; runs that were hung loose get peeled back. Wildhorse, the Baxter Road subdivisions and the streets around the old mall are somewhere in between.

Repairs

Not every house needs the full job. Corners resealed, runs re-hung, a second downspout added on the back run — $150–$600, and if the aluminum has ten good years left, a good contractor will say so. Gutter repair covers each one, and repair vs. replacement sets out a simple rule for deciding.

HOA and trustees

Many Chesterfield subdivisions have trustees or an HOA with architectural guidelines that cover gutter color. Ask the contractor to match the manufacturer's color chart to your trim or fascia, and to provide the color spec in writing if the trustees want to see it before work starts.

Permits

The City of Chesterfield has its own building department. Licensing and permit rules vary by city and county — check with your city or St. Louis County before work starts, especially if fascia, soffit or structural work at the roof edge is involved. Whoever you hire, ask for a certificate of general liability and workers' compensation insurance sent by their agent before anyone climbs a ladder.

Nearby

The same advice applies in Ballwin, Ellisville, Manchester, Wildwood, Town and Country, Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights, where the housing is similar. Requests from this site go to an independent local contractor partner who quotes and performs the work.