Gutter Guides
Gutter guides for Omaha homeowners
Straight answers to the questions our crews hear most, written for Nebraska weather, Nebraska trees and the houses people actually live in here.
About these guides
Written by Agatha Prewitt, Gutter Guides Editor, from what our crews see on Omaha roofs. Price figures come from published national cost guides and are labeled that way.
Cottonwood Season and Your Gutters in Omaha
Every late spring the air over Omaha fills with white fluff, and a week later plenty of gutters stop draining. Here is what cottonwood season does to a gutter system and how to stay ahead of it.
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Hail-Damaged Gutters: What to Document Before You Call Your Insurer
Gutters and downspouts are soft aluminum, so they record a hailstorm better than almost anything else on the house. A careful record made in the first few days gives you and your insurer something solid to talk about.
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5-Inch or 6-Inch Gutters for a Nebraska Roof?
Most houses in the Omaha area wear 5-inch K-style gutters, and many of them never give trouble. Some roofs, though, send more water to one edge than a 5-inch trough can carry. Here is how to tell which one your house is.
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Are Gutter Guards Worth It Under Nebraska Trees?
Gutter guards are sold as the end of gutter cleaning. They are not, but the right guard on the right house can cut the work down to a light brushing. Whether they are worth it depends on the trees over your roof.
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Ice Dams and Gutters in an Omaha Winter
Ice dams start on the roof, not in the gutter, but the gutter usually takes the beating. Here is how they form in an Omaha winter, what they break, and what actually helps.
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What Seamless Gutters Cost in the Omaha Area
Most gutter quotes in Omaha come down to a price per linear foot plus a handful of line items. Knowing what each line pays for makes two quotes easy to compare and keeps the cheap one from surprising you later.
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Downspouts, Loess Soil and a Dry Basement
A wet basement corner in Omaha usually has a downspout within a few feet of it. Roof water, fine loess soil and settled backfill add up to a simple problem that gets expensive when it is left alone.
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Built-In Box Gutters on Older Omaha Homes
If your house went up before the Second World War and you cannot see a gutter hanging off the roof edge, it may have one hidden inside the cornice. Built-in box gutters last well until the lining fails, and then they leak into the house.
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How Often Should You Clean Gutters? A Tree-by-Tree Answer
Twice a year is the textbook answer, and for some houses it is right. For others it is more than needed, or nowhere near enough. The trees that hang over or stand close to your roof decide which group you are in.
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Choosing a Gutter Color That Works With Your House
Gutter color is one of the few choices on a gutter job that is purely about looks, and it is surprisingly easy to get wrong. One simple rule handles most houses, and a few exceptions cover the rest.
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Seamless vs Sectional Gutters: What Changes on an Omaha House
Sectional gutters come home from the store in ten-foot lengths. Seamless gutters are rolled in your driveway to the length of each eave. The difference sounds small until you count the joints on a whole house.
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Are Heated Gutter Cables Worth It in Omaha?
Heat cable is one of those upgrades people either swear by or regret. On the right eave of the right house it ends a yearly fight with ice. On the wrong one it is a winter electric bill that changes nothing.
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Downspouts and Omaha's Combined Sewer
In the older parts of Omaha, the pipe under your street may carry toilet water and storm runoff together. Where your downspouts send roof water decides whether your house adds to that load or stays out of it.
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The Best Time of Year to Install Gutters in Nebraska
Gutters can go up almost any month in Nebraska, but each season changes what install day looks like, how soon you need the system working and how long you might wait. Here is how we think about the calendar.
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