Gutter repair in Kirkwood, MO

Gutters in Kirkwood

Three kinds of house, three kinds of job. The 1890s–1930s homes around downtown Kirkwood — the streets off Argonne Drive and Kirkwood Road, the blocks near the Amtrak station — carry half-round gutters on brackets, a good share of them copper, and box gutters built into the cornice on the grander Victorians. Those are repair and re-hang jobs; we solder copper, replace rusted brackets and rebuild box gutter liners, and we don't recommend tearing copper off to hang white aluminum. See copper and half-round gutters.

The 1950s–70s ranches and split-levels in Osage Hills, Meramec Highlands and along Big Bend and Geyer carry their original aluminum or galvanized steel. The steel is rusting through, the aluminum is sectional and leaking at the seams, and the spike hangers have backed out. Most of those are replacements: seamless 5- or 6-inch aluminum at $9–$16 a foot, fascia repaired first.

The teardown rebuilds of the last twenty years have big roofs and, too often, builder-grade 5-inch gutters with 2x3 downspouts that overflow at the far corner in every May storm. That's a capacity repair — a second downspout or 3x4 upgrade — not a replacement.

The trees

Kirkwood is a Tree City with a canopy to match. Pin oaks and white oaks along the older streets hold their leaves into December; the sycamores along the creeks drop in one two-week rush in October; silver maples in the 1960s subdivisions dump helicopters in May. A gutter under that gets cleaned three times a year or it gets micro-mesh guards. We do both, and we'll tell you honestly which makes sense on your lot.

Basements and the creek lots

Kirkwood sits on clay over limestone, and the lots that slope toward Sugar Creek and Gravois Creek hold water. Almost every house has a basement. A downspout dumping at the foundation on a Kirkwood lot is the fastest route to a wet basement, and the fix is extensions carrying water six feet out, or a buried line to daylight on the sloping lots. It's part of every job we do here. Downspouts and your St. Louis foundation explains the soil side.

Permits and the city

Kirkwood has its own building department and its own rules, and it's stricter than most of St. Louis County. Like-for-like gutter replacement generally doesn't need a permit; fascia, soffit and any structural work at the roof edge can. There is no Missouri state license for this work, so ask any contractor for insurance instead. We check with City Hall on Kirkwood Road before starting anything that might need paper, and we carry the certificate.

What we do in Kirkwood

• Gutter repair — resealing, re-hanging, downspouts, fascia; gutter repair Kirkwood MO calls are usually a corner and a run
• Copper and half-round — soldering, brackets, box gutter liners on the downtown-area homes
• Seamless replacement — the 1950s–70s ranches in Osage Hills and Meramec Highlands
• Gutter guards — micro-mesh under the oaks and sycamores
• Gutter cleaning — a December visit under oaks, not November

Pricing in Kirkwood

Same as everywhere we work. Repairs $150–$600, copper repairs $250–$600, seamless aluminum $9–$16 a foot, aluminum half-round $12–$20, cleaning $120–$300 by house size. A 1920s home near downtown Kirkwood with 130 feet of half-round and two soldered outlet repairs is a $400–$700 visit; a 1960s ranch in Osage Hills with 170 feet of new seamless and 20 feet of fascia is $2,000–$3,000. The cost page has the full tables.

Nearby

We also cover Webster Groves, Glendale, Oakland, Des Peres, Sunset Hills and Crestwood. Zip codes 63122 and 63119.