Seamless or sectional
Sectional gutter comes in lengths and is joined on the house. Every joint is a seam, every seam is sealed, and sealant is the part that fails — usually within a few years, usually at the corner where you cannot see it until the fascia is stained.
Seamless gutter is rolled on site from a coil, in one continuous piece per run, so a fifty-foot elevation has no joint in it at all. The only seams left are at corners and outlets, where they are unavoidable. This is the single biggest difference between a gutter that lasts and one that leaks, and it is the first thing to check on any quote.
Five inch or six inch
Five-inch K-style is the residential default and it is fine on a simple roof. Six-inch moves substantially more water and, just as importantly, takes a three-by-four downspout instead of a two-by-three, which is where most clogs actually start.
Six-inch is the right call when the roof is steep, when a large area drains to one short run, when the house sits under trees, or anywhere you have had an overflow before. If your existing gutters overflow in heavy rain and they are clear, the size is the problem, not the maintenance.
The metal, and the gauge nobody mentions
Aluminium is standard and correct for almost every house here. What varies is thickness: .027 is common on cheap jobs and .032 is heavier and holds its shape under a ladder and under ice. The quote will not usually say which unless you ask, and the difference in price is small compared to the difference in life.
Steel is stronger and heavier and costs more. Copper is a different category of money and is chosen for how it looks on the right house. Most homeowners are choosing between aluminium gauges without realising there was a choice.
Hangers, not spikes
The old method is a spike driven through the gutter into the fascia. Spikes work loose as the wood expands and contracts, which is why you see gutters pulling away along a run.
Hidden hangers clip inside the gutter and screw into the fascia or, better, into the rafter tails behind it, at roughly two-foot spacing. They hold, they are invisible from the ground, and they are what any specification worth signing will name.
The fascia behind it is half the job
A gutter is only as sound as the board it hangs on. If water has been running behind the gutter — which is what a failed seam or an undersized run does — the fascia is often soft, and hanging new gutter on rotten wood buys you a couple of years.
This is the most common thing missing from a low quote. Ask directly whether the fascia was inspected and what happens if it is bad. We photograph the fascia and the rafter tails before quoting, and the report is yours whether or not you use us.
Leaf guards, honestly
Guards reduce cleaning; none of them eliminate it, and anyone promising that is selling. Fine debris still gets through, and a guard that clogs is harder to clear than an open gutter. They are worth it under heavy tree cover and marginal elsewhere. Size the gutter correctly first — a 6-inch run with a 3x4 downspout solves more overflow problems than a guard does.
Get it looked at, free
We inspect across Maryland — Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties. Free inspection, photo report within 24 hours, and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.