On most houses, yes. Rain that hits the roof runs to the eave and drops off along the whole edge. Gutters catch it there and hand it to the downspouts, which carry it away from the walls. University of Minnesota Extension names missing gutters and downspouts as a common cause of wet basements, because the roof's water then lands along the foundation.
Your roof is a large funnel. Gutters decide where it empties.
Backed by Wood & Wood Seamless Gutters, more than 30 years in the gutter business.
What gutters do
A gutter turns a long line of dripping eave into a few outlets, and you pick where each one lands.
Without them, each storm drops a curtain of water beside the house. It splashes the siding, digs a trench in the bed below the eave and soaks the soil next to the basement wall.
The gutter is only half the job
Extension puts it bluntly: a downspout without an extender or splash block is worse than no downspout at all, since it drops the whole roof's runoff in one spot by the wall. Plan the bottom of every downspout along with the gutter. How many downspouts do I need? covers the count.
Keeping them working
A gutter full of leaves spills over the front edge, which puts you back where you started. That is the job a guard does. If your gutters are sound, Gutter Clean Pro goes over them; if they leak or sag, replace them with the guard built in.
What it costs
New gutters with T-Rex start at $25 a foot installed, and downspouts at $14 a foot. A guard over sound gutters starts at $18 a foot.
Call to install: every step
Three ways to start
- Call (617) 401-9301. It is answered any hour, and a missed call gets called back.
- Send the short form on the home page with your street address, and your number lands in your inbox.
- Text or chat through the chat window on this site.
Understand what you actually need
About fifteen minutes on the phone: the length of the roofline, the number of stories and the trees around the house. The roofline is measured remotely, so nobody comes to the house to sell. You get your price the same day, from the published per-foot rates.
- Gutters still in good shape: Gutter Clean Pro goes over the gutters you already have, from $18/ft.
- Gutters that need replacing: new gutters with the guard built in. T-Rex (continuous hanger) from $25/ft, or DoublePro (two filtration layers) from $30/ft.
- Fascia that cannot be drilled: Hover Pro, quoted for your house.
- Complex rooflines, third stories and copper are quoted separately, and we say so on the call, never after arrival.
Your plan, in writing
You get a written quote and your StormRail plan: photos of your house, the system, the gutter size and your color choices. The certified installer works from that same plan, so you and the installer are never on different pages.
A deposit capped at one third
Massachusetts law caps a home-improvement deposit at one third of the contract. We hold to that in every state we work in. Your quote names the exact figure before you pay anything.
Material ordered and confirmed
Your Alu-Rex system is ordered through the Alu-Rex distributor and confirmed before an install date is set, so the date you get is one the material can meet.
Scheduled with a certified installer in your county
A certified Alu-Rex installer working in your area takes the job, and you get the date without chasing anyone. In season we're typically booking four to six weeks out. We'd rather tell you that now than promise you Tuesday and send whoever happened to be free. Emergency work — a collapsed run, active water in the basement — gets triaged ahead of the queue.
Installed
The installer fits the system on the plan you already approved. Any balance is due as your quote states.
After the install
We check in after the job is done. Each system carries its own written Alu-Rex warranty:
- Gutter Clean Pro: manufacturing lifetime limited, clog performance lifetime limited, including coniferous areas
- T-Rex: manufacturing lifetime limited, clog performance 25-year prorated limited
- DoublePro: manufacturing lifetime limited, clog performance lifetime limited, including coniferous areas
Questions homeowners ask
What happens if a house has no gutters?
Roof water drops along the eave and soaks the ground beside the foundation.
Do I need gutters on every side?
On every eave that sheds water toward the house. Rakes, the sloped gable edges, do not carry gutters.
How do I get a price?
Call (617) 401-9301 and tell us which sides of the house have no gutters now. We price the runs and downspouts on the same call.
Compare the systems before you call: all gutter guards, Gutter Clean Pro, T-Rex, DoublePro, and the full price list.
Sources
- University of Minnesota Extension: Moisture in basements, causes and solutions extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/home-maintenance/caring-for-a-home/moisture-in-basements-causes-and-solutions
Get a number for your roofline
One call is enough to start: the address, how many stories, and what grows over the roof. The published per-foot rate is the starting point, and the full scope and total are confirmed in writing before you pay anything.
Call (617) 401-9301