Will a metal roof affect my gutters?

June 5, 2011 5:39 PM

Will replacing my asphalt roof with metal screw up my LeafGuard gutter system?

We need to replace our asphalt shingle roof, and we want to go with a standing seam or rib lock metal roof. We like the idea of installing the metal on top of the existing roof, mounted on 1"x4" wood purlins. However, we also have these fabulous one-piece LeafGuard gutters, and we don't want to screw them up. Will mounting the metal roof on top of the asphalt shingles using purlins cause water to overshoot the gutters? If we went a more traditional route and removed the old roof first, would a metal roof affect the performance of the gutters? I'd love to hear from anybody who has LeafGuard gutters (or similar) and replaced asphalt shingles with a metal roof. Thanks!

posted by Shoggoth to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

I'm having trouble picturing your set-up. My house had LeafGuards and a cedar shake roof until about 5 years ago, when the owner replaced it with a zinc metal roof. The roofers were able to slap the roof on while leaving the LeafGuards in place.

Fast forward to last year, when one of my gutters fell off and had to be replaced. The new roofing guys said they couldn't install new LeafGuards, because the overhang from the metal roof was too sharp and in the way.

So... maybe?
posted by ErikaB at 8:21 PM on June 5, 2011

Response by poster: The metal roof is now installed. We ended up removing the asphalt roof before laying down the metal because we wanted to be sure to catch any wood damage on the roof. This also reduced the space between the edge of the metal roof and the LeafGuard gutters, which helps send rainwater into the gutter system. Everything is working great with light/medium rain. I suspect we might have X amount of water shooting over the gutters in a heavy rain, but I haven't been able to observe that yet.
posted by Shoggoth at 2:13 PM on August 29, 2011