On gutters
How often should gutters actually be cleaned here. Most Fargo homes without guards need two cleanings a year, once in early summer after the cottonwood fluff settles and once in fall after the box elder seed drops, though a heavily treed lot may need a third check after a big wind event.
Can a sagging gutter be fixed without replacing the whole run. Usually yes, if the aluminum itself has not split at a seam. Most sag comes from failed hangers or spikes rather than a failure of the gutter material, and re-hanging with new hidden hangers on solid fascia fixes the majority of sagging runs we look at.
On ice dams
Will a heat cable fix my ice dam problem for good. A heat cable keeps a channel open through an existing dam so water can drain, but it does nothing about the heat loss that built the dam in the first place, and it costs money to run every winter indefinitely. We install them on the rare roof where a real ventilation fix is not practical, but for most houses the honest fix is attic air sealing and insulation.
Is it too late to fix an ice dam once water is already coming through the ceiling. No, but it does mean two separate jobs: removing the ice safely with steam so the leak stops now, and then doing the attic work over the following months so it does not come back next winter.
On roof repair
How do I know if I need a roof repair or a full replacement. If the shingles are still flexible and the granule coating is mostly intact, a targeted repair at the leak point usually makes sense. If shingles crack when lifted, or the roof already has a second layer under it, replacement is the more honest recommendation and we will tell you which situation you are in.
Do you repair roofs in winter. We do emergency repairs and tarping year round, but scheduled repair and replacement work runs from early spring through late fall, since shingles become brittle and difficult to work safely in deep cold.
On how the job runs
Do you give quotes over the phone from a description. No. Every roof and gutter system in this valley has its own history of patches and prior repairs, and a number given without seeing the actual condition is a guess dressed up as a quote. We always inspect first.
What happens if you find something unexpected once the job has started. We stop, show you what we found, usually with a photo, and explain the options before doing any additional work beyond what was originally scoped. Nothing gets added to a job without that conversation happening first.