Eavestrough installation in Burlington is roofing work at Fixall Roofing, because your eavestroughs are the final stage of the roof's drainage system. We form seamless aluminum gutters on site from coil, size them for the water your roof actually sheds and place downspouts where they carry it away from the foundation.
Burlington sees intense summer cloudbursts, including the August 2014 storm that flooded thousands of local basements. Undersized or poorly pitched eavestroughs overflow in exactly those storms, soaking fascia boards, garden beds and basement walls.
Because a roofing crew hangs them, your eavestroughs are installed with the roof edge in mind: drip edge, fascia condition and how ice behaves at your eaves. Homeowners bring us in for new builds and additions, for replacing tired sectional troughs and for full eavestrough systems installed alongside a new roof.
A typical detached home takes one day from removal of the old troughs to the final water test. Here is how the day runs.
We take down existing eavestroughs, hangers and downspouts and haul them away. Old spikes are pulled and their holes sealed.
We probe the fascia for rot and confirm the drip edge directs water into the trough, not behind it. Problems are fixed before anything new is hung.
A roll-forming machine in our truck shapes pre-painted aluminum coil into one continuous length for each wall. Every run is measured and cut to fit, with no joints along the way.
Troughs are fastened with hidden hangers screwed into the fascia and rafter tails, then set to a consistent slope toward each outlet.
Outlets are cut, downspouts are strapped to the wall and elbows direct water onto splash pads or extensions well clear of the foundation.
Corners and end caps are riveted and sealed with a gutter-grade sealant, then we run water through every run to confirm it drains with no standing pools.
Eavestrough size should be chosen from roof area, roof pitch and how water concentrates at valleys, not from what was there before. Many Halton homes built with 5 inch troughs and two downspouts overflow simply because the roof drains more water than that setup can carry.
| Factor | Standard Choice | Upsize When |
|---|---|---|
| Trough profile | 5 inch K-style | 6 inch K-style for large or steep roof planes |
| Downspout size | 2x3 inch, roughly 600 sq ft of roof each | 3x4 inch, roughly 1,200 sq ft of roof each |
| Roof pitch | Up to about 6/12 | 8/12 and steeper sends water past a 5 inch lip |
| Valleys | Splash guard at the valley | Extra outlet or 6 inch trough below the valley |
| Tree cover | 2x3 downspouts with guards | 3x4 downspouts that clog far less often |
On most two storey Burlington homes, upgrading to 6 inch troughs with 3x4 downspouts costs modestly more and removes most overflow complaints. A 6 inch trough also gives gutter guards a wider opening to work with on tree-heavy lots.
Roof area figures above are general guides for moderate pitches. We measure each roof plane and its pitch on site before recommending a size.
Sectional eavestroughs come in 10 foot lengths joined with connectors, so a 40 foot wall has at least three seams before you count corners. Each seam relies on sealant that dries out, shrinks in Ontario's freeze-thaw cycles and eventually drips.
Seamless troughs have joints only at corners, end caps and downspout outlets. Fewer joints means fewer leak points, cleaner lines along the roof edge and less sealant to maintain.
Sectional still makes sense in a few cases: a short run on a shed or porch, half-round profiles chosen for an older home's style, or matching an existing system on one small section. If your current troughs are sound and only a joint or two is failing, eavestrough repair may be the better value than a full replacement.
Most sagging, overflow and ice problems trace back to these three details, and they are where rushed installations cut corners.
We space hidden hangers no more than 24 inches apart, and closer below valleys and on north-facing eaves where ice lingers. Screws go through the fascia into rafter tails wherever they line up, which holds far better than old spike-and-ferrule fastening.
We pitch troughs about 1/4 inch for every 10 feet of run toward the outlet. Too flat and water pools, too steep and the trough looks crooked against the roofline and overflows at the low end.
Runs over about 40 feet are pitched from the middle toward downspouts at both ends. This keeps the drop reasonable and halves the water each outlet must carry.
Properly hung troughs carry winter ice weight, but they do not stop ice dams. If ice builds at your eaves every winter, the cause is usually attic heat loss, and our ice dam prevention work addresses it at the source.
New eavestroughs are only as secure as the fascia board behind them. Years of overflow often rot the wood fascia hidden under aluminum cladding, and a hanger screwed into soft wood will pull out under the first heavy load of ice.
Before installation, we press-test the fascia along every wall and replace rotted fascia board sections we need to fasten to. If the soffit and fascia cladding need wider replacement, we point it out so you can decide how to handle it before the new troughs go up.
We also check that soffit vents are open and not painted over or blocked by insulation. Those vents feed fresh air to the attic, and blocked intake is one of the main reasons ice forms at the eaves in the first place.
We form eavestroughs from pre-painted aluminum coil with a baked enamel finish that will not rust and rarely needs repainting. Colour choices typically include a few dozen standard shades, so troughs can match your fascia, your window trim or the roof itself.
Thickness matters more than most quotes reveal. Standard residential coil is about 0.027 inch thick, and we can use heavier 0.032 inch stock on long runs or exposed eaves; thinner budget coil dents when a ladder leans on it and sags under wet snow.
Downspouts are usually matched to the siding or brick so they blend into the wall, while troughs match the roof edge. Ask to see the coil sample, since colours on a phone screen look different from painted aluminum in daylight.
A downspout that empties against the foundation undoes the work of the whole system. We direct discharge onto lawn or garden areas with splash pads or extensions that carry water at least 1.2 to 1.8 metres from the wall.
Water should never be aimed at a neighbour's yard, a shared side yard path or a driveway where it can freeze into a sheet of ice. The City of Burlington's lot drainage rules make owners responsible for not sending water onto neighbouring properties, and direct connections to the storm system need City approval.
If your downspouts currently disappear into a pipe in the ground, check with the City before changing or reconnecting them. We will plan outlets around your lot's grading and landscaping during the estimate.
Most seamless aluminum installations in the Burlington and Hamilton area fall roughly between $9 and $16 per linear foot including downspouts, depending on trough size, coil thickness, storeys, corners and removal of the old system. We confirm the exact figure in writing once we have measured your home.
Well-installed seamless aluminum eavestroughs typically last 20 to 30 years with cleaning twice a year. Corner seals and hangers usually need attention before the trough itself wears out.
Often, yes, because a roof replacement brings new drip edge that should sit correctly over the back of the trough. If your troughs are under about 10 years old and in good shape, we can remove and rehang them instead.
We measure every run, check the fascia and roof edge and recommend a trough and downspout size for your roof. Your written quote lists the coil thickness, hanger spacing and number of downspouts which makes it easy to hold up against other bids.
Our installation labour is warrantied for a full year, and the painted coil carries its manufacturer's finish warranty.
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