Gutter repair and installation in Mt. Lebanon, PA

Gutters in Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon was built in a hurry between the wars, after the streetcar tunnel opened, and the houses show it: block after block of brick Tudors, Dutch colonials and center-hall colonials in Virginia Manor, Mission Hills, Beverly Heights, Hoodridge and the streets around Washington Road. Most were roofed in slate, and the better ones were built with box gutters behind a wooden cornice and copper or galvanized downspouts. Ninety years on, the slate is often still good and the gutter lining isn't.

The later streets — Sunset Hills, the Cedar Boulevard side, the 1950s ranches toward Castle Shannon — have hung gutters, and there the work is more ordinary: aluminum that has reached the end of its life, spike hangers backed out, downspouts that were tied into clay drains nobody has seen the end of in decades.

And everywhere in Mt. Lebanon there are trees. The pin oaks and maples that make the streets are the same ones that fill the gutters in November and drop seeds into them in June.

Common gutter work here

• Box gutter repair — relining in EPDM or copper, rotted cornice framing rebuilt, outlets and downspout connections replaced. Common on the 1920s–40s streets.
• Gutter repair — corners, sagging runs, ice damage on the hung-gutter homes and on rear additions.
• Gutter installation. Mt. Lebanon's 1950s–60s houses mostly need a straightforward seamless aluminum replacement, usually one day; see seamless installation for what to specify.
• Gutter guards — micro-mesh under the maples, screens under the oaks; not on box gutters unless the lining has been done first.
• Gutter cleaning — late June and late November, with a look at the cornice paint at the same time.

The cornice problem

A typical Mt. Lebanon complaint goes something like: "The paint on the trim under the roof edge keeps peeling, and there's a stain on the bedroom ceiling near the outside wall." That's usually a box gutter lining that has failed, often at a seam or the outlet, and the water is running into the cornice and down inside the wall. Repainting the cornice lasts a season. Relining the gutter fixes it. Ask the contractor to open a small section during the inspection, show you what the wood looks like, and price the relining per foot with the framing repair as a separate line.

Downspouts and the dye test

Many of Mt. Lebanon's older downspouts were originally piped into the sanitary sewer, and many municipalities in Allegheny County now require stormwater to be disconnected from it. Check with Mt. Lebanon's municipal office what the sale-time dye test requires before you list a house. If a downspout disappears into the ground and you don't know where it goes, ask for water to be run through it to see whether it drains to daylight, into a storm line, or into the foundation. Redirecting a downspout to the surface with a six-foot extension is a small job; it's also a common fix for damp basements on Mt. Lebanon's sloped lots.

What to check on a Mt. Lebanon house

• The cornice paint. On the brick Tudors and colonials, peeling trim at the roof edge is the first sign of a failing built-in gutter.
• The outlets. Where the downspout leaves the cornice is where box gutters usually fail first. Rust streaks or drips there deserve a closer look.
• Copper joints. Green copper is fine; split seams, loose straps or patches in another metal are not.
• Where each downspout ends. On the sloped lots, a downspout that drops into the ground or ends at the foundation is the usual cause of a damp basement corner.
• The rear additions. Many houses here have a later sunroom or kitchen addition with a hung gutter that meets the original roof. Those joints often leak first.

Gutter installation on the later streets

On the 1950s and 60s houses toward Castle Shannon and on the Cedar Boulevard side, replacement is usually simple: seamless aluminum, 5-inch on most ranches and capes, 6-inch where a long or steep roof plane sheds a lot of water, hidden hangers, and 3x4 downspouts. The detail worth asking about is the trees. Many of these streets sit under mature pin oaks and maples, and a new system is the cheapest moment to add guards, because the installer is already at every foot of the run.

Planning around the seasons

Relining is best done in dry, mild weather, from late spring into early fall, because the membrane and adhesive need a dry surface. Hung-gutter replacement can happen most of the year. If the cornice shows water damage in March after the ice lets go, get it looked at before the summer thunderstorms add to it.

Pricing in Mt. Lebanon

Typical ranges are the same as the rest of the area: repairs $150–$600; seamless aluminum $9–$15 per foot; box gutter relining $35–$60 per foot in EPDM with framing repair extra; cleaning $120–$200 for a single-story and $180–$300 for a two-story. The pricing page has the full tables. These are ranges, not a quote.

Nearby

Dormont, Castle Shannon, Scott Township, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park have much the same mix of houses. Zip codes 15228, 15216 and 15234. Requests from this site go to an independent local contractor partner who quotes and performs the work.