Gutter guards in West Hartford, CT

Old houses, tired gutters: the three systems for a West Hartford roof

On an older house the first question is not which guard. It is whether the gutter underneath deserves one. A gutter that has been re-pitched, patched at the corners and re-spiked more than once will not hold a cover well, and a cover on top of it only hides the leaks. When that is the picture, the guard should come with a new gutter, and the new gutter should be carried properly along the eave.

That is what T-Rex does. It is a continuous aluminum hanger that runs the length of the gutter, with a perforated top that keeps leaves out, so the gutter is held all the way along rather than at a bracket every couple of feet and the guard is part of the hanger rather than a separate piece. With a new seamless gutter it is $25 a foot in 5-inch and $29 in 6-inch. Where the debris is mostly broad leaves, that is the system we usually start the conversation with on an older West Hartford house.

If the yard drops fine stuff, such as seed pods, catkins, needles from a neighbour's tree or heavy shingle grit off an old roof, DoublePro adds a second, finer perforated layer underneath. DoublePro carries a lifetime clog-free warranty, pine needles included. It is $30 a foot in 5-inch and $34 in 6-inch, gutter included.

And if your gutters were replaced in the last few years and are straight, tight at the seams and draining to their outlets, keep them. Gutter Clean Pro goes over them at $18 a foot for 5-inch or $20 for 6-inch. Downspouts are their own line at $14 to $16 a foot, and taking down old gutter is $1 a foot when it is needed. Every rate is on the pricing page.

What sets West Hartford gutters apart

The age of the houses comes first. Census estimates put the median West Hartford home at 1954, and the biggest single group, about 7,500 units, was built in 1939 or earlier. Roughly two-thirds of everything in town predates 1960. About 63% of housing units are single-family detached, and there is a real share of two- to four-family houses too. Houses that age have had several roofs. Their gutters may be the original wooden or galvanized runs, half-replaced aluminum, or a mix of both on the same eave, and the fascia behind them has often taken water for years.

Then the trees. West Hartford lost more than a fifth of its tree cover between 2010 and 2023, and the West Hartford Tree Project now hands out 1,000 free trees a year to win it back. Fewer big trees does not mean clean gutters. The mature trees still standing drop a full load every autumn, and every one of those new plantings will be dropping leaves on someone's roof in a few years.

The town runs from Hartford's edge out to the ridge. Its sections include West Hartford Center around Farmington Avenue and Main Street, Elmwood, Bishops Corner, Blue Back Square and Prospect Hill, and its highest point, 778 feet, is up on Talcott Mountain. A house near the ridge and a house near Elmwood can face quite different wind and tree cover, which is one reason we ask about your street and your trees, not just your roofline.

Weather is Hartford-area weather. At Bradley International Airport, the nearest long-record NOAA station, the 1991-2020 normals show 47.05 inches of precipitation a year, 51.7 inches of snow, about 12.4 days with an inch or more of rain and roughly 126 nights at or below freezing. Those are Bradley figures, not readings from West Hartford. Most guards cope fine with a drizzle. Trouble starts in a downpour, when an old 5-inch run below a valley is asked to carry more than it was sized for.

If your house is in the Buena Vista, Boulevard-Raymond Road or West Hill historic districts, or is one of the town's eight individually designated properties, the Historic District Commission requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for most projects that would change how the outside of the building looks from the road, and it must be approved before the Building Department issues permits. The commission's page does not mention gutters, so we will not guess for you. Ask the commission before work starts, and the installer will plan around its answer.

What do gutter guards cost on a West Hartford house?

Every rate is per foot, installed, and the same anywhere in Connecticut. New seamless gutter with T-Rex is $25 in 5-inch and $29 in 6-inch. With DoublePro it is $30 and $34. Gutter Clean Pro over gutters you keep is $18 and $20. Downspouts and removal are listed separately on the quote.

Your total is your roofline times the rate, plus downspouts and any removal. On a two- or three-family house, tell us about rear porches and additions so those runs are counted. We measure the roof remotely, so the number comes on the call, and no one visits to sell you anything.

Should I replace old gutters before adding guards?

If they leak at the seams, sag between hangers, hold standing water or are pulling the fascia off with them, yes. A guard does not fix any of that, and on an old house it can make the problem harder to see. If they are straight, sound and draining, no: a cover on top is the cheaper route.

A quick check is to look along the gutter from one end after a rain. Low spots hold water. Then look at the seams and corners for drip stains. The new gutters question page goes through the rest, and the 5-inch versus 6-inch page explains when an older house should move up a size.

Do gutter guards work in a West Hartford winter?

They keep the gutter clear going into winter, which is when it matters. A gutter packed with wet leaves freezes solid and stays that way. A clear one has room for meltwater. What a guard cannot do is stop an ice dam: that comes from heat escaping through the roof and melting snow that refreezes at the colder eave, which is an attic insulation and ventilation question.

A gutter held along its full length also copes better with snow sliding off the roof. The winter question page covers snow and ice in more detail, and the ice dam page explains what we can and cannot fix.

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.

1. 01

   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.
2. 02

   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.

3. 03

   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.

4. 04

   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.

5. 05

   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.

6. 06

   Installed

   The installer fits the system on the plan you already approved. Any balance is due as your quote states.

7. 07

   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

Around West Hartford

• Every town we cover in Hartford County: Gutter guards in Hartford County, CT
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