The gutter company for Largo homes

What older Largo houses need from gutters

Many of Largo's neighborhoods were built decades ago, and it shows on the side streets off Missouri Avenue. The typical house there is a low concrete block ranch with wood fascia boards along the edge of the roof. Some still carry old sectional gutters, pieced together from short lengths. Every joint in a run like that is a place for water to drip through. That drip lands right against the block wall and the foundation.

Wood fascia is where trouble starts. A gutter is fastened to that board, so when the gutter overflows or leaks at a seam, the wood stays wet. After enough summers of afternoon storms it goes soft, and the fasteners lose their grip. Then the gutter sags. Water sits in the low spot, and its weight pulls the board further out of shape. Hanging a new gutter on rotten fascia just starts the same problem over again.

So on an older Largo house we look at the fascia before we talk about gutters. Soft boards can be replaced, since we repair and install wood fascia and soffit too. New gutters go up in long runs with no joints along the straight sections. One Google reviewer with an older home wrote: "The gutters look great and the work exceeded my expectation for an older house."

• Fascia checked for soft wood before anything is hung
• Rotted fascia and soffit repaired or replaced
• Old sectional gutters taken down
• New runs with no joints on the straight sections
• Gutter color picked to match your trim

Largo's oaks and pines fill gutters fast

Largo's older streets grew up under big live oaks and slash pines, and a lot of those trees now hang right over the roof. Live oaks drop their old leaves over a few weeks each spring. Pines shed needles all year. Oak leaves lie flat in the trough and hold water, and pine needles knit into a mat that lets very little through. Either one can fill a gutter faster than most people expect.

A clogged gutter in Largo does its damage in summer. Summer storms here dump a lot of rain in a short time, and water that cannot reach the downspout spills over the front edge. It falls in a sheet along the house, splashes dirt onto the wall and digs a trench in the flower bed. Standing water in a blocked gutter also breeds mosquitoes, and the wet debris adds weight that pulls on the hangers.

You have a choice here. We clean gutters and downspouts, and that works well for a house with only light tree cover. When the roof sits under heavy oaks or pines, gutter guards usually make more sense. We install aluminum gutter guards and other leaf protection that keep leaves and needles out of the trough, so rain can reach the downspout. We will tell you which option fits your trees when we come look at the house.

Moving roof water away from Largo homes

Most of Largo is flat, and the ground under the lawns is mostly sand. Water does not run off a yard like that by itself. It collects wherever the downspout lets it out, which on many older houses is a short elbow at the corner. Sand washes away easily. After a summer of storms you see the damage, like a washed-out hole by the wall or a tilted patio slab.

A downspout has to carry the water far enough out that it does not soak back toward the house. We install downspouts in a standard size and a larger size that moves more water, which helps on a big roof with long runs. When the yard gives the water nowhere to go, we can pipe it underground to a pop-up emitter out in the lawn. Catch basins are another option for low spots where water sits after a storm.

Largo has more than ranch houses. Along East Bay Drive and Ulmerton Road there are plenty of shops and offices, and we do commercial gutter work as well as homes. A wide commercial roof sends a lot of water to a few outlets, so the gutters and downspouts have to be sized for that load. For those buildings we offer box gutters. On homes, you can choose K-style or half round gutters, and copper is an option when looks matter most.

Getting a price in Largo

Call (813) 539-5260 or send us a quick note from this page, and we will set up a time to look at your gutters. The estimate is free, and you get it in writing with the work spelled out before you agree to anything. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The shop is in Oldsmar, a short drive from Largo.