How to Repair a Leaky Gutter | This Old House

all right Christina the good news is the gutter is not the problem it's hung at the right height and it has a good pitch to it what is the problem Tommy well as a couple of things there's a space behind the gutter where it meets the fascia board it should have some caulking in it does that have caulking down no it doesn't and I think we should put some caulking in there but the other problem is the drip edge what exactly doesn't your fence do well the drip edge does a couple of things it goes underneath the first row of shingles and if it's not there roof shingles overhang the sheathing the hot Sun can melt the shingles and cause them to bend down so it keeps that leading edge straight it also has a little kick on the bottom right here so when the water comes down off the roof surface tension can take the water up hit the drip edge bring it down and it will hit this little kick and drop it back into the gutter your drip edge is actually tight against the face board I don't like that at all what happens the water droplets to come down hit the hit this little kicker right here they actually get sucked against the fascia board work the way down around and get in back of the gutter when the roofer installed the drip edge you should have put 1/4 to 3/8 gap between the backside of the drip edge and the face board we have to fix that do we have to replace the entire drip edge no I've got a solution here's what I'm going to do to create a gap between the fascia board and the backside of the drip edge I'm going to use a filler strip it's made out of pressure treated wood 3/8 by 3/4 by 8 feet I'm going to slip this in behind the drip edge all right Christina what we want to do is pull out the bottom of the drip edge and try to slide the filler strip right in behind it okay it's a little tight here Tommy it's a little tight once you get it up there push it right up okay now we have a nice gap between the drip edge and the fascia right here now the next thing I want to do is this joint right here between the fascia board and the top of the gutter so that water doesn't run behind it how's that Sami that looks good missed a little bit back here they got a couple little holes just come back and touch that up okay yeah great all right I think we're looking pretty good here so now when it rains on the water falls off the roof and it's pulled in under the shingle and hits the drip edge with surface tension because we've created that gap that will fall into the gutter we've also cocked between the gutter and the fascia board so even if any wind driven rain should blow against the house the water won't get between the gutter and the fascia board because we have a nice bed of caulking there that's great Tommy thanks so much my pleasure you

Channel: This Old House

Views: 580,407

Rating: 4.7620344 out of 5

Keywords: This Old House, Ask This Old House, DIY, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, Episode, TV Show, Television Program, Do It Yourself gutter, Tom Silva, Home Repair, leak, repair, tom silva this old house, tom silva house, tom silva construction, tom silva tools, tommy silva, home renovation ideas on a budget

Id: 45LbnlaJvtI

Length: 2min 50sec (170 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 20 2014